Palestinian hospital staff inspect the damage inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli strike early on May 13, 2025, during which Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih was killed along with several others. (Credit: Eyad Baba.)
Palestinian Civil Defense reported on Wednesday at least 29 Palestinians killed in strikes in the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip, where Israel has announced an intensification of its offensive.
Benjamin Netanyahu's government simultaneously sent a delegation to Doha on Tuesday for negotiations on Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, as Donald Trump is on a tour of the Middle East.
Hamas, for its part, called on the U.S. president to "continue his efforts to end the war" in Gaza, triggered by an unprecedented attack by this Hamas against Israel on Oct.7, 2023.
"At least 25 dead and dozens injured" in dawn strikes in the Jabalia camp (north), "said Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for Civil Defense in Gaza, to AFP. Four Palestinians died in a strike west of Khan Younis (south).
AFP images in Jabalia show crying women gathering around bodies wrapped in blood-stained white shrouds.
"This is a nine-month-old baby. What did he do wrong?" one of them cries.
"Those who don't die from a missile die of hunger, and those who don't die of hunger die from a lack of medicines," laments another Palestinian, Hassan Moqbel, who lost relatives in the bombing.
- "With all our strength" -
After a brief pause on Monday to allow for the release of Israeli-U.S. hostage Edan Alexander, who was kidnapped during the October 7 attack, the Israeli army resumed its bombings on Palestinian territory, notably targeting two hospitals or their surroundings in Khan Younis on Tuesday.
According to the army, each of these establishments housed "a command and control center" of Hamas, a movement that took power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered a terrorist by Israel, the European Union, and the United States.
"In the coming days, we will enter with all our force to complete the operation and defeat Hamas," Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
He added that his services are working to find countries willing to accept Gazan residents after a plan announced by his government for the "conquest" of the Palestinian territory.
On March 18, after a two-month truce, the Israeli army resumed its offensive in Gaza, where it seized large areas.
Israeli forces have also blocked since March 2 any entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory, where they have besieged about 2.4 million inhabitants faced with a catastrophic humanitarian situation since October 2023.
- "Critical risk of famine" -
For weeks, UN and NGO officials have been multiplying warnings about food, medicine, and fuel shortages.
"Will you act decisively to prevent genocide" in Gaza? asked U.N. humanitarian operations chief Tom Fletcher of Security Council members on Tuesday.
"Israel deliberately and without the slightest shame imposes inhumane conditions on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory," he said.
The territory is facing "a critical risk of famine," according to the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) report published Monday.
The October 7 attack in southern Israel, bordering the Gaza Strip, led to the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Of the 251 people kidnapped in Israel that day, 57 are now still held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.
Israeli reprisals have caused at least 52,928 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data released Tuesday by the Hamas Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the U.N.