Israeli strikes killed 50 Palestinians in Gaza in past hours
Gaza’s civil defense agency says at least 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the besieged strip since midnight.
“The number of martyrs killed in Israeli shelling targeting civilian homes in the northern Gaza Strip between midnight and early this morning has risen to 50… Our teams are still working in those areas,” civil defense official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said on Friday.
The Indonesian Hospital in the northern city of Beit Lahia alone had received 30 dead and dozens of injured, mostly children and women, according to a doctor at the hospital.
Meanwhile, five of the killed people and “more than 75 injured” were transferred to al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, Mohammed Saleh, acting director of the hospital, said.
“The Israeli occupation bombed the house next to mine, hitting it directly while its residents were inside,” the 40-year-old, Yousef Al-Sultan, from the al-Salatin area, west of Beit Lahia, told AFP, reporting “air strikes, artillery shelling and gunfire from quadcopter drones.”
“There is a massive wave of displacement among civilians. Fear and panic grip us in the middle of the night,” he added.
That’s while the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that more than 250 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the past 36 hours, adding that 150 injured people had been transferred to the Indonesian Hospital and al-Awda Hospital.
Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians there so far.
In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.
The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.
On March 18, the regime resumed the strikes on Gaza, breaking the nearly two-month-long ceasefire and prisoner-captive exchange agreement.
Netanyahu missing ‘historic opportunity’: Israeli captives’ families
Israel’s main group representing families of captives still being held in Gaza has slammed prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for missing an “historic opportunity” to get them released, as US President Donald Trump concludes a visit to West Asia.
The captives’ families “woke up this morning with heavy hearts and great concern in light of reports about increased attacks in Gaza and the imminent conclusion of President Trump’s visit to the region,” the so-called “Hostages and Missing Families Forum” said in a statement on Friday.
“Missing this historic opportunity would be a resounding failure that will be remembered in infamy forever,” the group added.
