The Palestinian father, Wissam Wishah, who lost three of his children, Said, Salma, and Eline, in Israeli strikes near their home, hangs their toys and belongings on the rubble of their house in the al-Bureij refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip, on May 1, 2025. (Credit: Eyad Baba.)
Civil Defense in Gaza announced on Sunday the death of 16 people, including at least three children, in several strikes on the small war-torn Palestinian territory, which has been under a total blockade by Israel for more than two months.
Six people were killed in overnight airstrikes in the Khan Younis governorate (southern Gaza Strip), said Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for this rescue service. Two were in a tent in Abassan, and four others, including two boys aged five and two, in an apartment in al-Mawasi.
Civil Defense later reported ten more people killed in a strike on a tent in al-Mawasi, announcing that a child and seven women had died. When contacted by AFP about these strikes, the Israeli army was not immediately able to comment. A spokesperson explained that they were gathering details about the events. According to a military statement released on Sunday morning, the army had "struck more than 100 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip" over the past two days. The statement added that soldiers operating in the southern Palestinian territory had found "weapons caches" and killed "several terrorists".
The Israeli army resumed its bombings and offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month truce with Hamas in the war triggered by the unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on southern Israel. This attack led to the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army. Hamas also retains the body of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in Gaza in 2014.
Israel cut off all humanitarian aid to the territory on March 2, accusing Hamas of diverting it. Israel claims this total blockade aims to pressure the Islamist movement to release all hostages it holds. Since then, the UN has unsuccessfully called on Israel to reopen the territory to humanitarian aid, which is vital for the population facing a dire humanitarian situation and at risk of famine according to U.N. officials. The Israeli retaliatory campaign to the October 7 attack has resulted in at least 52,535 deaths in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which are deemed reliable by the U.N.
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