Israeli bombing of UNRWA clinic in Gaza beheads two-week-old infant, kills 22

A two-week-old infant was beheaded in Israel’s bombing of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) clinic in Jabalia, north Gaza, along with 22 other civilians, including nine children.

“It had been only two weeks since I gave birth to my little girl, she had no head," said the mother of Amal Abu Sa’da, the infant whose body was recovered from the rubble decapitated after the deadly attack.

Amal’s mother recounted the horror, saying they were sitting at a place “unaware of anything, suddenly fire engulfed us, I remove rubble from myself, I just got up searching for my children.” 

“The fire was all over children, they died, they were killed,” she added.

The UN agency said in its statement that the strike hit “two rooms on the first floor of a UNRWA destroyed health centre,” which was sheltering 160 displaced families. 

"Many displaced families have not left the site, simply because they have absolutely nowhere else to go," the statement said.

Read: Israel expands military operation in Gaza, plans to seize large areas

However, the Israeli military stated that “the compound was used by Hamas forces to plan terror attacks.” It accused the Palestinian group of “exploiting the civilian population as a human shield.”

It said that Hamas operatives were hiding in civilian buildings  where thousands of Gazans had sought shelter. Hamas has denied these allegations.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, condemned the bombing as a "blatant war crime."

Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza on March 18, after a vioalting a six-week truce by bombing several places in Gaza.

The recent strikes in southern and central Gaza killed at least 15 people, including children, in Khan Yunis and Nuseirat refugee camps. 

The death toll in Gaza has reached 1,042 since March 18, according to the Gaza health ministry. 

The overall death toll since the start of the war in October 2023 stands at 50,399, with the United Nations considering these figures reliable.