A total of at least 114 Palestinians have died from Israeli airstrikes all over the Gaza Strip since the morning, said health officials and rescuers.
Civilian Casualties in Khan Younis in Gaza
Fifty-six civilians, among them children and women, died when homes and tents where families displaced by wars had taken shelter were bombed at night in Khan Younis in the south, said the local Nasser hospital.
The Israeli military announced it attacked Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in southern Gaza.
The Hamas-controlled Civil Defence department also reported fatal bombings in the town of Jabalia in the north, including on a health center and prayer space in Jabalia refugee camp, which it reported killed 13 individuals.
Escalation of Israeli Shelling in Gaza
Israeli troops have been escalating their shelling of what they claim are Hamas militants and infrastructure in preparation for an impending widening of their ground campaign in Gaza.
It follows that US President Donald Trump is visiting the area and covert talks over a fresh ceasefire and hostage swap agreement between Israel and Hamas are ongoing.
Khan Younis’ streets were full of funeral corteges and mourning families at dawn on Thursday, after residents described as the most deadly set of airstrikes on the city since Israel re-opened its military campaign nearly two months ago.
One man said to BBC Arabic’s Middle East Daily programme that Nasser hospital’s morgue was “overfull”, and that a number of bodies were stored in the corridor prior to burial.
Medics had to treat injured individuals, including burn victims, amputees, and internal bleeding sufferers, on stretchers, benches and on the floor because there were not enough beds, he explained.
Personal Tragedies Amid the Chaos
“Among those killed today were 36 children… Entire families have been wiped from the civil registry,” he added. “Tragically, this level of destruction has become part of daily life.”
A local activist uploaded one video to social media on which medics had placed dozens of bodies along the ground inside a local cemetery. An imam stood slightly to the side conducting prayers among hundreds of mourners behind him standing in orderly lines.
Personal Losses and Grief Stricken Families
A mother of six, Safaa al-Bayouk at the age of 42 reported her sons Moataz and Muath had been killed within one of the airstrikes. Six weeks old Moataz, and one year and four months Moataz.
“I gave them dinner and they went to sleep. It was a normal day… [then] the world turned upside down,” she told Reuters news agency.
Reem al-Zanaty, 13, said her uncle’s family, including her 12-year-old cousin Menna, were killed when their two homes were bombed.
Ongoing Suffering and International Concerns
Local journalist Hassan Samour, who wrote for Hamas-controlled al-Aqsa Radio, was killed with 11 of his family members when their house in the eastern neighborhood of Bani Suheila was targeted.
The Civil Defence organisation reported Thursday morning that its first responders had retrieved four bodies after Israeli raids in the northern town of Beit Lahia and two more in the central town of Deir al-Balah.
Subsequently, spokesman Mahmoud Basal reported that a rocket strike on a house in Jabalia town had killed the five members of the Shihab family.
Another 13 were killed when a health clinic and prayer hall in the al-Fakhouri neighborhood of Jabalia refugee camp were bombed, he added.
Humanitarian Crisis Unfolds
At least 80 people were killed on Wednesday in Israeli strikes across the territory, 59 of them in Jabalia refugee camp and town, hospitals and the Civil Defence said.
The Israeli military reported that it hit Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in northern territory on Tuesday evening. It had issued a warning for the residents of Jabalia and surrounding areas to leave on Tuesday after rockets were fired into Israel.
Israeli orders for evacuation on Wednesday afternoon also created chaos among residents of a densely populated Gaza City neighborhood, in the north.
Continued Desperation by Gaza and US Aid Plans
Meanwhile, a US-funded group announced it would commence operations in Gaza within two weeks under a new controversially-assailed US-Israeli distribution scheme.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation stated it had requested Israel to permit the UN and others to resume delivery until it was established.
UN agencies have maintained they will not co-operate with the scheme – which is in accordance with one already vetted by Israel’s government – as it contravened basic humanitarian precepts.
No aid or other material has been permitted by Israel into Gaza for 10 weeks, and aid agencies have cautioned of mass starvation among the 2.1 million population.
Tensions and Blockades Continue to Escalate
Israel declared the blockade on 2 March and renewed its campaign against Hamas two weeks later, breaking a two-month truce. It stated that it wanted to bring pressure to bear on Hamas to free its remaining 58 hostages, up to 23 of whom are presumed to be alive.
Israel waged a campaign to annihilate Hamas for attacking the group across the border on 7 October 2023, when approximately 1,200 were killed and another 251 taken hostage.
At least 53,010 have been reported dead in Gaza since then, including 2,876 since Israel’s offensive renewed, the territory’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said.
