Israeli occupation forces launched a furious overnight onslaught on Gaza, killing at least 115 Palestinians in a single day of bloodshed. Two journalists were among the dead, gunned down in separate attacks after finishing fieldwork. Civil defense officials told Al Manassa that bodies littered the streets and others lay beneath rubble.
Photojournalist Rasmi Salem was killed Tuesday afternoon when an Israeli drone-fired missile struck near his home north of Gaza City, colleague Mohamed Al-Belbisi told Al Manassa. Salem, who worked with Al Manara Media, had just returned from field reporting. He was buried hurriedly at Sheikh Radwan Clinic.
Less than two hours later, his colleague Ayman Haniyeh, an outside broadcast engineer at Al Manara Media, was also killed in a near-identical Israeli strike in southern Gaza City as he returned from Salem’s funeral. The attack claimed another civilian’s life and left 11 others wounded.
Gaza’s government media office mourned the journalists, stressing that their slaughter brings the toll of reporters and media workers killed during Israel’s genocide to 249. It urged international organizations to hold Israel accountable for its systematic war crimes against the press.
On Monday, Sept. 1, over 250 media outlets from 50 countries—including Al Manassa—went dark for 24 hours, blacking out sites and broadcasts in an unprecedented global protest against Israel’s calculated campaign of exterminating journalists in Gaza. The protest also demanded that Israel lift its ban on foreign media access to the besieged enclave, dismantling its suffocating information blockade.
Incendiary weapons used
For a second day, Israeli forces bombed the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza, dropping incendiary munitions that ignited closed shops and even ambulances, said Fares Afaneh, ambulance director at the Gaza Health Ministry. A direct strike also put two ambulances out of commission.
Eyewitnesses told Al Manassa that Israeli drones rained down more than ten incendiary bombs, setting fire to cars and vendor tents. Civil defense teams, crippled by destroyed equipment and stalked by low-flying drones, struggled to contain the infernos.
Simultaneously, Israeli artillery and airstrikes pounded Al-Sabra, Al-Saftawi, and Jabaliya refugee camp, killing more than 60 Palestinians in a single night and wounding dozens. Rescue crews could not reach southern Al-Sabra because of constant bombardment and hovering warplanes, a civil rescue officer told Al Manassa.
Health system in collapse
Mohamed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, described the medical situation as the darkest moment since Israel’s onslaught began.
In a Facebook post, he wrote that hospital beds were crammed to 300 percent of capacity, with patients lying in hallways and courtyards. Drug shortages had reached 60%, depleting anesthetics, antibiotics, and even treatments for cancer and chronic disease.
He also warned of “widespread outbreak of respiratory and skin diseases within the camps” and a surge in Guillain-Barré syndrome linked to malnutrition, contaminated water, and suffocating overcrowding.
“Stopping the genocide will resolve these problems and repercussions. Stop the war of genocide,” he added.
Hospitals in central and southern Gaza received more than 60 bodies and dozens of wounded from strikes on Nuseirat camp, Deir al-Balah, and Khan Younis in the past two days, a medical source told Al Manassa. About 30 Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid were also massacred near US distribution centers.
Escalating war
Since launching its current assault on Gaza, Israel has sabotaged or outright rejected ceasefire negotiation efforts. Earlier this month, Hamas agreed to a truce proposal drafted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Israel has stonewalled the initiative, opting instead to intensify its genocidal campaign against the besieged enclave.
