‘Let Those Numbers Sink In’: At Least 45 Palestinians Killed During Israeli Attacks on Gaza

Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip killed dozens of Palestinians and wounded hundreds of civilians over the weekend, Palestinian officials said as Israel and the militant resistance group Islamic Jihad declared a truce late Sunday night.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Sunday that so far 44 people, including at least 15 children and four women, died during the 66-hour Israeli onslaught—officially called Operation Breaking Dawn—in which militants also reportedly fired at least hundreds of rockets at Israel, resulting in three light injuries. The ministry said that the attacks injured 360 other Palestinians, which ended with the 11:30 pm truce.

“Let those numbers sink in,” tweeted Marwa Fatafta, a Berlin-based Palestinian writer, researcher, and senior policy analyst at the digital rights group Access Now.

Jehad Abusalim, the education and policy coordinator at the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker peace group, tweeted: “Fifteen kids. Born into a brutal blockade. Their lives defined by wars, bombardments, trauma, fear, poverty, isolation, and dehumanization by the rest of the world.”

A 16th child—10-year-old Haneen Abu Qaida—died Monday of injuries sustained during a Saturday Israeli attack that also killed her mother, Palestine’s Wafa News Agency reports.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday professed his “unwavering” support for Israel while condemning the “indiscriminate rocket attacks launched by the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad” and praising the “steady leadership” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and his government.

Biden added that he is “proud” of the $1 billion in U.S. support for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, which IDF officials said intercepted around 380 rockets fired by Gaza-based militants. The IDF also claimed that around 200 projectiles failed to clear the Israeli border and landed inside Gaza.

James J. Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, tweeted that “it’s outrageous that the Biden administration gave Israel ‘full-throated support’ for its murderous ‘preemptive’ assault on Palestinians in Gaza.”

“Israel started it, egged it on, and Palestinians were sitting ducks,” he added, lamenting that the “U.S. denounces Russia for crimes but absolves Israeli crimes. Double standard.”

Since 2008, Israeli forces have waged four wars in Gaza in which more than 6,000 Palestinians were killed, according to figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Last year, during the most recent of those wars, Israeli attacks killed at least 129 civilians, including 66 children.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.