Gaza Water Plant Hit In Strike
A huge explosion rocked Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood on Monday, as an alleged Israeli airstrike hit a recently opened water desalination plant.
Footage shows the massive blast erupting, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. Residents are seen tending to an injured person, while Civil Defence teams battle flames inside a large crater left by the explosion.
Eyewitness Abu Ali al-Omarain said the IDF had ordered residents to evacuate the desalination plant before the strike. He said the facility, funded through donations, was completely destroyed.
“The destruction is massive and beyond imagination. I estimate that this one-tonne missile destroyed two floors and created a one-floor-deep crater in the ground,” the resident said.
Civilian Facility Destroyed
“This is a water desalination plant. It is purely a civilian facility; there is nothing military or police-related there, nor anything connected to Hamas,” he asserted.
Another eyewitness said the plant had opened less than a month ago and was supplying drinking water to local residents.
“The plant and the surrounding area were completely destroyed, including a camp for displaced people where all the tents were obliterated,” he added.
Palestinian media on Monday reported that Israeli fighter jets struck a water desalination plant and a mosque in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.
The Israeli military had not commented on the reported strike at the time of publication.
Tensions Escalate In Gaza
The blast followed Israeli warnings over drones, balloons and kites flown over Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Hamas on Sunday that Israel would intensify strikes if the launches continued.
Hamas denied responsibility for the kites, saying they were primarily children’s toys used in displacement camps.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 200 hostages taken.
Israel subsequently launched a large-scale military campaign in the Gaza Strip. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 73,422 Palestinians have been killed and 174,401 wounded since October 7, 2023.
Article by Viory
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