HOSPITALS in Gaza were reported to have virtually ground to a halt today as the Israeli assault on Gaza showed no sign of slowing.
Israel continued attacks on the southern city of Rafah despite widespread international condemnation over bombings that have killed scores of civilians.
Israel said that a fifth brigade — up to several thousand soldiers — joined troops operating in the city on Tuesday.
At least 31 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza Strip since early on Wednesday, with the death toll from Israel’s invasion, prompted by a cross-border Hamas raid last October that killed 1,139 Israelis, now over 36,000.
Hospitals are reportedly struggling with a shortage of beds, medicine and fuel.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said today it had recovered the bodies of two of its paramedics who were killed today in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan area.
The PRCS said the pair — Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna — were killed when Israeli forces bombed their ambulance.
In a post on the X social media platform the PRCS said: “The Israeli occupation forces deliberately bombed the ambulance vehicle despite it bearing the internationally protected Red Crescent emblem.”
The PRCS reports that since October 7, 19 of its medical staff have been killed in Gaza.
Paramedics and civil defence crews have reported that scores of Palestinians are trapped under the rubble caused by the Israeli attacks on homes and public facilities.
Reports from the ground claim that at least 20 people have been killed inside their homes or as they attempted to flee since Tuesday.
Israel’s military claimed on Wednesday it had seized control of a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt to cut off smuggling tunnels as it tries to destroy the militant Hamas group in a war now in its eighth month.
The capture of the Philadelphi Corridor could complicate Israel’s relations with Egypt, which has complained about the advance toward its border.
Israel claimed, without evidence, that the corridor is awash with tunnels that have funnelled weapons and other goods for Hamas despite a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.
The corridor is part of a larger demilitarised zone along the entire Israel-Egypt border. Under a 1979 peace accord, each side is allowed to deploy only a small number of troops or border guards there.
