Israeli forces 'kill pregnant women in Gaza, run over bodies with bulldozers': report

Four pregnant women were gunned down by Israeli bulldozers in Gaza’s Tal al-Zaatar, Al Jazeera Arabic reported on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses told Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif that the bodies of the pregnant women were run over by the bulldozers and left unburied among piles of other bodies in Tal al-Zaatar. 

The women were reportedly raising white flags as they were attempting to reach the Al-Awda Hospital when they were shot by Israeli forces. 

Al Jazeera said that multiple houses were also destroyed during an Israeli raid in the area, as the casualty toll has yet been confirmed. 

Other local Palestinian news outlets have also reported the recent suspected killings, however The New Arab was unable to verify these reports.

This comes after the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that at least 20,258 people had been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory since the start of war on October 7. 

The latest toll includes 201 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the ministry said. Most of the dead are women and children. 

Israeli tanks have since also advanced in the northern Gaza town of Jabalia. 

🚨Israel shot 4 pregnant women raising white flags on their way to al-Awda hospital, IDF bulldozers ran over them!

They were left to rot in the sun in an area held by Israel for over 2 weeks.

Dozens of decomposing & mutilated bodies were discovered today in Tal al-Zaatar… pic.twitter.com/pENSXlsEAd

— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) December 23, 2023

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said at least 18 Palestinians were killed and dozens others wounded in an air strike on a house in Nuseirat in central Gaza. 

In southern Gaza, more than 90 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes, according to rescuers and hospital officials. 

Bombardments by Israeli troops across the Gaza Strip were conducted using warplanes, howitzers and combat boats, WAFA reported.  

Despite mounting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has vowed that it will keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and hostages are released. 

Mediated talks between the two parties have stalled, with both sides disagreeing on the terms of a ceasefire and prisoner swap.

On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution that calls for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to desperate civilians in Gaza, but not for a ceasefire.