Medical sources in Gaza Strip are reporting a "massacre" in Gaza at dawn Sunday after tending to some of those injured in Israeli attacks which had destroyed hundreds of homes and hundreds of victims between dead and injured, most particularly on the eastern parameters of Gaza City.
Medical staff said ambulances and medics are unable to reach the scores of bodies and hundreds of injured.
Meanwhile in the city, masses of frightened, crying, sometimes screaming Palestinians are seen fleeing with nothing but the clothes they have on. Some of those running for their lives spoke of hundreds of mortar shells still raining on their homes. Thousands have fled their homes and are seeking central city areas where it is deemed safer.
The Spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, accused the Israeli side of preventing the transport of bodies and injured to hospitals. He told reporters "Israeli forces are heavily firing at and shelling ambulances, civil defense vehicles, as well as civilian homes and the number of those fallen cannot be ascertained amid these circumstances." He described the attacks since post-midnight Saturday as the fiercest since the start of the assault on Gaza two weeks ago.
He pointed out "there is deliberate, premeditated targeting of civilian homes with mortar shells and air missiles," and "medical crews are desperately trying to reach the victims". He added international agencies including the Red Cross are contacting the Israelis to urge them to allow ambulances into Al-Shujaeia neighborhood where the greatest number of victims was reported, "to no avail." "The Israelis had vowed to destroy this neighborhood completely and considers the area a closed military zone and no one is allowed in." Al-Qudra said reports of deaths and injuries are pouring in from Rafah, Al-Wusta Governorate, as well as Al-Shujaeia.