Gaza medics mourn Palestinian doctor killed by Israel strike

Gaza medics mourn Palestinian doctor killed by Israel strike
Dr. Ayman Abu Auf's body was pulled from under the rubble, after his home was levelled to the ground by an Israeli airstrike on the al-Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza.
3 min read
16 May, 2021
A number of medics held an impromptu funeral near the hospital on Sunday morning [Getty]

A Palestinian doctor who served as director of internal medicine at Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital was among the 33 killed by Israeli airstrikes on Sunday, the health ministry said.

Dr. Ayman Abu Auf’s body was pulled from under the rubble, after his home was levelled to the ground by an Israeli airstrike on the al-Rimal neighbourhood in the besieged enclave.

A number of medics held an impromptu funeral near the hospital on Sunday morning, reciting Quranic verses over his body.

Another doctor, Moueen al-Aloul, one of the besieged  enclave's few neurologists, was also reportedly killed in the strike, described as the "single deadliest" attack on Gaza.

Most of those killed by the strike were from the extended al-Kolak family.

Three-year-old toddler Adam Izzat al-Kolak and one-year-old baby Qusai Samih al-Kolak were among the 27 killed in the attack, the ministry said, adding that six other children were killed and over 50 people were wounded by the bombardment.

Read also: Palestine Live Coverage: Updates from Gaza and the West Bank

Both tolls are expected to rise as rescuers race to pull bodies and survivors from the rubble.

"We're hearing screams under the rubble," a member of the Civil Defense told the Al-Jazeera network as the search and rescue operation continued behind him.

Fahad al-Haddad, an emergency medicine specialist at al-Shifa, said most of the dead brought to the hospital showed no external signs of injuries, meaning they were killed by the rubble that collapsed on them while they were still alive.

On Saturday, Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing to allow the passage of people needing medical treatment and other humanitarian cases.

The border had been closed for the Eid al-Fitr holiday and was due to reopen on Monday.

Egypt has so far sent 16 ambulances into Gaza to pick up casualties of Israeli bombardments for treatment in Egyptian hospitals, a medical source said.

Egypt, which made peace with Israel decades ago, has threatened to "suspend" cooperation in various fields, according to an official, who did not elaborate.

Israel's deadly airstrikes on Gaza began following a series of provocations in east Jerusalem earlier this month.

Israeli settlers attempted to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah area, leading to protests. Separately, Israeli police had also attacked worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Eid.

At least 202 Palestinians have since been killed and 5,588 others injured, the health ministry said on Sunday.

In the Gaza Strip, 181 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, including 52 children and 31 women.

In the West Bank, 21 Palestinian protesters were shot dead with live ammunition by Israeli occupation forces that violently crashed protests, which broke out in demonstration against the aggression on Gaza.

In the Gaza Strip, 1,225 Palestinians have been wounded by the Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombing, while in the West Bank, 4,363 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli occupation forces or illegal Jewish settlers.

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