Airstrikes target homes, tents, displacement shelters, and public gathering areas, resulting in dozens of casualties – most of them women and children
The Israeli army killed at least 45 Palestinians, including two entire families, on Thursday during intensified air, drone, and artillery strikes across the Gaza Strip, amid its ongoing genocide, according to Palestinian medical sources, civil defense teams, and witnesses.
The airstrikes targeted homes, tents, displacement shelters, and public gathering areas, resulting in dozens of casualties – most of them women and children.
An Israeli airstrike struck a home in the al-Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, killing two Palestinians and injuring 10 others.
In central Gaza, an Israeli drone strike on the al-Mahatta area in Deir al-Balah killed two civilians, including a child.
Earlier in the day, another drone attack east of the Nuseirat refugee camp killed one person and wounded several, while naval forces bombarded the western coast.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, over 15 Palestinians, mostly children and women, were killed after warplanes bombed tents sheltering displaced families in the al-Mawasi area, setting them ablaze and leaving several victims burned beyond recognition.
In Rafah, drone attacks killed at least two civilians and injured others in al-Shakoush, while Israeli tanks and bulldozers advanced from the Mirage area into southern Khan Younis, razing buildings in northern Rafah.
-Khan Younis, Rafah
Separately, an airstrike near the Taiba Towers west of Khan Younis killed a Palestinian man and his child, injuring seven others.
Israeli drones continued their assault in Khan Younis, killing two civilians in the Al-Manara neighborhood and another in the Al-Salam district.
An Israeli helicopter also struck the Abu Dan family home in Armida, east of Khan Younis, wounding several residents.
In Rafah, southern Gaza, a drone attack on a civilian gathering in the Al-Shakoush area killed one Palestinian and injured two others.
Concurrently, Israeli forces demolished residential buildings north of Rafah and shelled multiple areas in Rafah and Khan Younis.
Israeli military vehicles, backed by heavy gunfire, advanced from Rafah's Mirage area to Khan Younis' Qizan Abu Rashwan.
In northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, an Israeli drone targeted a school sheltering displaced families, killing four Palestinians, including a girl, whose charred remains arrived at a local hospital.
Another drone strike hit a tent in Jabalia's Al-Dakhiliya Street, killing seven members of the Asaliya family – parents and their five children – while injuring 15 others.
In Beit Lahia, rescue teams recovered the bodies of six members of the Mohammed Al-Attal family, including parents and their four children, after an airstrike on their tent.
East of Gaza City, in the Shujaiya neighborhood, Israeli artillery fire killed two Palestinians amid heavy bombardment and gunfire from military vehicles and quadcopter drones.
Israeli naval forces also fired heavily on Gaza City's coastline, though no injuries were reported.
The attacks were the latest in a renewed Israeli assault on Gaza since March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.
More than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
