A Palestinian boy, wounded in Israeli airstrike on Gaza, Oct. 21, 2023 (AP)

The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip continues for the 19th consecutive day, with ongoing artillery and aerial bombardments, mainly targeting residential homes.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported, on Wednesday, that the number of martyrs has risen to 6,546, including 2,704 children, 1,584 women, and 364 elderly individuals. In addition, 17,439 citizens have been injured with various degrees of injuries reported since October 7.

The Ministry stated that the Israeli occupation committed 44 massacres in the past few hours, resulting in 756 martyrs, including 344 children, and 1,142 injuries.

A spokesperson from the #Gazan Ministry of Health announced that the Israeli occupation murdered 756 #Palestinians in the past 24 hours alone, 344 of whom are children.#Palestine #GazaUnderAttack #GazaUnderSiege #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/P5Fwcb01fB
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 25, 2023

The Ministry's spokesperson pointed out that the healthcare system in Gaza is now completely out of service and in a state of total collapse, calling for immediate intervention to rescue the crumbling healthcare system amid the dire need for it.

He highlighted that the international community has not taken into account constant warnings regarding hospitals going out of service, noting that the current breakdown is either due to bombardment or a shortage of medical staff and supplies.

It is worth noting that the Israeli occupation's massacres have been concentrated in the southern region of the Gaza Strip, where they told Gazans earlier to head to for "safety". The statistics show that 65% of the victims this week were in the southern part of Gaza, which the Israeli occupation claimed to be safe.

The Israeli occupation committed 688 massacres against families, resulting in 4,807 martyrs, and still, twice that number remains under the rubble.

Palestinian Civil Defense: We will dig with our own hands to rescue people

The Director of Civil Defense in Northern Gaza, Ahmad al-Kahlout, stated that the debris removal operations are taking place under extremely challenging conditions. He pointed out that the retrieval of Palestinians and bodies from under the rubble has halted due to the lack of fuel for the only excavator in the province.

However, al-Kahlout emphasized that they would resort to manual digging to get people out if the machinery ceases due to the fuel shortage.

Reports have been coming out of the Gaza Strip, noting that people stuck under the rubble have been reaching out to their friends, family, and acquaintances, whenever possible, letting them know they're still alive under the rubble, what their circumstances are, and where they were when the strike hit. The goal is to ultimately guide all possible efforts for them to be rescued at a time when Gaza suffers from a major lack of equipment due to the ongoing siege forced on them by "Israel".

An image has been circulating on social media showing a series of messages between a girl under the rubble, and someone on the outside, saying:

"Ghaida, we are under the rubble
But I have my phone with me
No one came to get us out\

And I have been screaming

I don't know if the rest of them are alive
I don't feel anything
But Layal is in my arms
There are only stones above me."

The person on the outside tried to respond to those messages, saying "Oh my Goodness!" but unfortunately a notification showed noting that "there was a problem while sending this message."

With thousands still under the rubble as the civil defense faces multiple challenges to carry out debris removal operations due to the Israeli siege, people in the Gaza Strip are afraid. They could be terrified knowing that their loved ones, who would have survived the genocidal Israeli strikes, could die under the rubble, because of the murderous policy implemented by the Israeli occupation government.

The genocidal policy against Palestinians coupled with the deafening silence of the international community that now proves to be complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians holds thousands of people in Gaza hostages of the debris that fell on their heads.