GAZA CITY
A human rights group said early on Thursday that the Gaza Strip has been witnessing what it described as a "human catastrophe" for the 18th day in a row since Israel started its war on the Palestinian enclave on July 7.
The international community needs to "immediately act to put an end to the ordeal suffered by civilians in the Gaza Strip," the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, a Geneva-based non-profit, said in a statement.
It said the scope of problems in the Gaza Strip keeps widening day after day, warning against a human catastrophe in the Palestinian territory.
The observer said Israel had been stepping up its aggressions against the Gaza Strip for several days now. It said after it indiscriminately attacked the eastern Gaza City residential Shujaya neighborhood three days ago, Israel started besieging the eastern Khan Yunis town of Khuza'a, the nearest point to Israel's border with Gaza, early on Wednesday.
The Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights added that Israel's indiscriminate shelling of the town had totally isolated it from neighboring towns.
It quoted town residents as saying that Israeli snipers on town building rooftops shoot at anything moving on the streets, while Israeli planes had targeted some of the town's homes, totally destroying them while residents were inside.
The group said two thirds of the homes of the town were devastated while scores of residents were killed and injured.
It noted that aid responders had failed to enter the town after they were prevented by the Israeli army.
"The Palestinian Health Ministry has not managed to count the number of victims from Israeli attacks inside the town so far," the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights said.
It said medical teams had counted 26 dead bodies, including a large number of civilians, early on Wednesday.
By Mustafa Haboosh
www.aa.com.tr/en
