Women, Children among 25 Killed in Israeli Strikes on Central Gaza

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reported an updated death toll early Tuesday, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble after two air strikes targeted homes in the Bureij refugee camp.

Among the dead were six children and two women, hospital officials confirmed.

The Palestinian death toll in Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza is approaching 42,000, with nearly 100,000 people wounded over the past year.

The vast majority of the casualties are women and children, according to Palestinian health officials.

Witnesses in the Bureij refugee camp described the destruction caused by the strikes.

"We have been hearing huge explosions since the early hours," said a local resident.

"At least 25 Palestinians have been confirmed killed," the person added.

At the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital, the scene was devastating, with bodies lined up on the ground as family members mourned.

Palestinians have remained in the Bureij camp despite warnings from Israel that it would become an "active military zone" and calls for residents to evacuate.

Many have nowhere else to go, which has made them targets of Israeli strikes.

In northern Gaza, the situation has worsened.

The Jabalia refugee camp has been under siege by the Israeli army for days.

Troops and military equipment have destroyed roads and isolated camps and villages, making it difficult for residents to find safety.

People are fleeing from one neighborhood to another in a desperate search for refuge.

The Israeli military has been systematically working to empty northern Gaza, residents said.

The bombardment has left much of Gaza in ruins.

Seventy-five percent of the territory’s infrastructure has been destroyed by air strikes, artillery shelling, and demolitions, turning large parts of Gaza into rubble.

“This is my home, or what remains of it," said Rabab Maghari, a displaced Palestinian, as she sat amid the debris of flattened buildings.

“I can’t reach it. I wish I could go in and take some of my belongings. But my dream was destroyed,” she told Al Jazeera.

Another resident, Ikram Al Ham, a mother, expressed her despair over the situation.

“You feel as though you are in a dream. You want to wake up from it and return, but we can’t bring back anything," she said.

"Until when will we remain like this? Our days are all just war. We don’t feel any comfort or safety.”

Israeli attacks have killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza over the past year, amounting to one in every 55 residents.

Of those, at least 16,756 were children, making it the deadliest year for children in conflict over the last two decades.

More than 17,000 children have lost one or both parents as a result of the Israeli violence.

Despite international condemnation and calls from global leaders and organizations to halt the violence, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza continues without pause.