As Operation Al-Aqsa Flood entered its sixth day, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced today (Thursday) that the death toll from the attacks launched by Israel on the Strip had risen to 1,417 civilians, in addition to the injury of 6,268 others.

The Ministry said that it recorded the fall of 447 child martyrs, and 248 female martyrs, as a result of the ongoing occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources reported that the Israeli occupation army committed major massacres in the cities of Rafah and Deir al-Balah during the past hours, indicating that the death toll from the Israeli bombing that targeted two civilian homes in Deir al-Balah is more than 20, most of them children and women, an infinite toll.

Meanwhile, Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Saleh Al-Arouri, denied that the Palestinian factions were targeting civilians, stressing in press statements: “We are not targeting civilians, and the storming of the Gaza Strip was an organized operation, and the instructions from the Al-Qassam leadership were to attack... The Gaza Division of the occupation army is responsible for all crimes against our people, and we were surprised that the swollen army collapsed in less than 3 hours, faster than we expected,” indicating that only 1,200 Qassam personnel entered the enemy camps.

He added: Before the attack began, the defensive plan was ready, and it is much stronger than the offensive plan, and for every action the enemy takes, there is a plan we have, indicating that the occupation targets everything in Gaza, but it failed to harm the military structure.

He defended the goals of the Palestinian factions by saying: We are fighting for the world to recognize the right of our people to live like other peoples, asking: How is it right for a soldier to be wearing an Israeli military uniform and then discover that he holds American or French citizenship?