Israel intensifies strikes across Gaza and hits a hospital in the north; more than 20 killed
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — A wave of Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday hit a hospital, a municipal building, a home and a vehicle, killing at least 21 people, including children, as Israel vowed to expand its security presence in the small coastal strip.
A predawn strike on Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was the latest of several attacks on the last major hospital providing critical healthcare in northern Gaza.
Hospital director Dr. Fadel Naim said the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, affecting more than 100 patients and dozens of staffers. He said in a post on X the hospital had been warned in advance.
One patient, a girl, died during the evacuation because medical staffers were unable to provide urgent care, Gaza's Health Ministry said.
Al Ahli Hospital is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack, noting in a statement that it occurred on 'Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year.' Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.
Israel said it struck a command and control center used by the militant group Hamas at the hospital, without providing evidence. Hamas in a statement denied the allegation.
Associated Press video showed the hospital's caved-in roof surrounded by debris. The Health Ministry's director general, Dr. Munir al Boursh, said patients had been carried outside in beds and slept in the streets.
'Nothing was left safe. Nothing was left safe inside the hospital, or all over Gaza,' said Mohammad Abu Nasser, an injured man who sat on his bed outdoors and looked at the destruction.
The Health Ministry said the hospital was temporarily out of service and patients were transferred to other hospitals in Gaza City. The aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians called it the fifth attack on the hospital since the war began in October 2023.
Hospitals have special protection under international law. Israel has bombed, beseiged and raided them, some several times, while accusing Hamas of using them as cover for its fighters.
Last month, Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the largest in southern Gaza, killing two people and causing a large fire, the Health Ministry said. The facility had been overwhelmed with dead and wounded when Israel ended a two-month ceasefire last month with a surprise wave of airstrikes.
Hours later, a strike on a car in Deir al Balah in central Gaza killed at least seven people including six brothers, according to staff at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. The youngest brother was 10.
Their father, Ibrahim Abu Mahadi, said his sons worked for a charity that distributes food to Palestinians. 'For what sin were they killed?' he said.
AP reporters saw the mangled, bloodied car as relatives wept over the bodies.
An airstrike Sunday afternoon hit a house in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people including two women, according to the Indonesian Hospital, which received the bodies. A pregnant woman was rescued from the rubble.
Another strike in Deir al Balah hit a municipal building Sunday afternoon and killed at least three people, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. In Khan Yunis, a strike killed at least three people, according to staff at Nasser Hospital.
Israel's military said in a statement it had struck more than 90 militant targets over the last 48 hours, including command and control centers, tunnels and weapons. The military also said it had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza.
The war started when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and took 250 people captive. Many were eventually freed in ceasefire deals.
Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms. It cut off all supplies to Gaza more than a month ago.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count, but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
Israel's military said a missile was launched from Yemen on Sunday afternoon, and the details were under review. Sirens sounded in several parts of Israel and the occupied West Bank. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to target Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Shurafa and Magdy write for the Associated Press. Shurafa reported from Deir al Balah, Magdy from Cairo.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dozens of Palestinians killed while seeking aid in Gaza, hospitals say
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed as they tried to access aid in Gaza, hospitals say. Two hospitals in Gaza City said 25 people were killed overnight, near a convoy transporting flour and a food distribution site run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the area of the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli military zone. The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire. There are also reports of people being crushed by lorries and being shot by Palestinians. Israel's military said troops fired warning shots as suspects approached them. Another 14 people were killed by Israeli fire near a GHF site in Rafah, in the south, a hospital in Khan Younis said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports from Rafah. The GHF said more than 43,000 food parcels were handed out at its three distribution centres in Rafah and central Gaza "without incident" on Wednesday. However, there have been deadly incidents near the GHF's sites almost every day since its controversial aid system began operating on 26 May. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 223 people had been killed while trying to reach areas designated for aid distribution over the past two weeks, including 57 on Wednesday. Palestinians say local gunmen and Israeli forces opened fire near Gaza aid site Gaza health workers say four killed by Israeli gunfire near aid centre Netanyahu confirms Israel arming clans opposed to Hamas in Gaza On Wednesday afternoon, Israeli anti-war activist Alon Lee-Green shared a video showing scenes of total chaos as hundreds of young Palestinian men rush from all directions into a GHF distribution centre to get boxes of food. Many are seen climbing over earth mounds and metal fencing, and there appears to be no organisation or control. BBC Verify geolocated the video to the GHF's Tal al-Sultan site, which is inside an Israeli military zone in western Rafah. It is said to have been filmed on Tuesday. In a post on X, Green described the scene as "apocalyptic", adding: "This is what starving people look like, rushing for food while risking their lives." It came after officials at al-Shifa and al-Quds hospitals in Gaza City said at least 25 people were killed by gunfire from Israeli troops as people gathered early on Wednesday near the GHF's Wadi Gaza site in the Netzarim corridor. The director of al-Shifa's emergency department, Moataz Harara, said the hospital received around 200 injured people at the same time, many of them with gunshot or shrapnel wounds to the abdomen and pelvis. Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told news agency AFP that the deaths and injuries were the result of "Israeli tank and drone fire on thousands of civilians". The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement: "Overnight, IDF troops fired warning shots toward suspects who were advancing while posing a threat to the troops, in the area of the Netzarim Corridor. This is despite warnings that the area is an active combat zone. "The IDF is aware of reports regarding individuals injured, the details are under review." Later on Wednesday, officials at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said another 14 people were killed by Israeli gunfire near GHF sites in Rafah. For the past few days, people have been saying that Palestinian gunmen have also fired at them. It is not clear whether they were members of militias linked to the Israeli military, or criminal gangs intent on looting supplies from aid convoys. Eyewitnesses have expressed their sense of utter despair. "They shoot and throw missiles at us, the gangs attack us - everyone attacks us for a bag of flour. They kill their own people for a bag of flour," one man said. Another said their child had not eaten in two or three days. "Our children are being pushed from one community kitchen to another, and the situation is dire. We call on the whole world to stand with the people and demand a ceasefire. We have no part in this war." Much of the focus in the past two and a half weeks has been on the deadly incidents connected to the new aid mechanism run by the GHF. But what is becoming clearer by the day is that the entire aid distribution system in Gaza - such as it is - appears to be close to complete breakdown. UN agencies and other aid groups are refusing to co-operate with the GHF, saying its system contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. They also warn that Gaza's 2.1 million population faces catastrophic levels of hunger after an almost three-month total Israeli blockade that was partially eased on 19 May. The US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas. The UN says this is not a widespread issue, while Hamas denies doing it. UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York on Wednesday: "We reiterate in the strongest terms possible that no-one should be forced to risk their lives to receive aid." He also said the UN's World Food Programme had only been able to deliver small amounts of food and other aid since Israel started allowing limited supplies into Gaza three weeks ago, and that this was largely due to delays or denials of permission for convoys due to expanded Israeli military operations. The WFP said it dispatched 59 aid lorries carrying 930 tonnes of flour to northern Gaza on Monday night, but that the convoy was "stopped along the way and offloaded by hungry civilians in critical need of food to feed their families". A GHF spokesman told news agency Reuters: "Ultimately, the solution is more aid, which will create more certainty and less urgency among the population. "There is not yet enough food to feed everyone in need in Gaza. Our current focus is to feed as many people as is safely possible within the constraints of a highly volatile environment." The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dozens of Palestinians killed while seeking aid in Gaza, hospitals say
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed as they tried to access aid in Gaza, hospitals say. Two hospitals in Gaza City said 25 people were killed overnight, near a convoy transporting flour and a food distribution site run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the area of the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli military zone. The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire. There are also reports of people being crushed by lorries and being shot by Palestinians. Israel's military said troops fired warning shots as suspects approached them. Another 14 people were killed by Israeli fire near a GHF site in Rafah, in the south, a hospital in Khan Younis said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports from Rafah. The GHF said more than 43,000 food parcels were handed out at its three distribution centres in Rafah and central Gaza "without incident" on Wednesday. However, there have been deadly incidents near the GHF's sites almost every day since its controversial aid system began operating on 26 May. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 223 people had been killed while trying to reach areas designated for aid distribution over the past two weeks, including 57 on Wednesday. Palestinians say local gunmen and Israeli forces opened fire near Gaza aid site Gaza health workers say four killed by Israeli gunfire near aid centre Netanyahu confirms Israel arming clans opposed to Hamas in Gaza On Wednesday afternoon, Israeli anti-war activist Alon Lee-Green shared a video showing scenes of total chaos as hundreds of young Palestinian men rush from all directions into a GHF distribution centre to get boxes of food. Many are seen climbing over earth mounds and metal fencing, and there appears to be no organisation or control. BBC Verify geolocated the video to the GHF's Tal al-Sultan site, which is inside an Israeli military zone in western Rafah. It is said to have been filmed on Tuesday. In a post on X, Green described the scene as "apocalyptic", adding: "This is what starving people look like, rushing for food while risking their lives." It came after officials at al-Shifa and al-Quds hospitals in Gaza City said at least 25 people were killed by gunfire from Israeli troops as people gathered early on Wednesday near the GHF's Wadi Gaza site in the Netzarim corridor. The director of al-Shifa's emergency department, Moataz Harara, said the hospital received around 200 injured people at the same time, many of them with gunshot or shrapnel wounds to the abdomen and pelvis. Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told news agency AFP that the deaths and injuries were the result of "Israeli tank and drone fire on thousands of civilians". The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement: "Overnight, IDF troops fired warning shots toward suspects who were advancing while posing a threat to the troops, in the area of the Netzarim Corridor. This is despite warnings that the area is an active combat zone. "The IDF is aware of reports regarding individuals injured, the details are under review." Later on Wednesday, officials at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said another 14 people were killed by Israeli gunfire near GHF sites in Rafah. For the past few days, people have been saying that Palestinian gunmen have also fired at them. It is not clear whether they were members of militias linked to the Israeli military, or criminal gangs intent on looting supplies from aid convoys. Eyewitnesses have expressed their sense of utter despair. "They shoot and throw missiles at us, the gangs attack us - everyone attacks us for a bag of flour. They kill their own people for a bag of flour," one man said. Another said their child had not eaten in two or three days. "Our children are being pushed from one community kitchen to another, and the situation is dire. We call on the whole world to stand with the people and demand a ceasefire. We have no part in this war." Much of the focus in the past two and a half weeks has been on the deadly incidents connected to the new aid mechanism run by the GHF. But what is becoming clearer by the day is that the entire aid distribution system in Gaza - such as it is - appears to be close to complete breakdown. UN agencies and other aid groups are refusing to co-operate with the GHF, saying its system contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. They also warn that Gaza's 2.1 million population faces catastrophic levels of hunger after an almost three-month total Israeli blockade that was partially eased on 19 May. The US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas. The UN says this is not a widespread issue, while Hamas denies doing it. UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York on Wednesday: "We reiterate in the strongest terms possible that no-one should be forced to risk their lives to receive aid." He also said the UN's World Food Programme had only been able to deliver small amounts of food and other aid since Israel started allowing limited supplies into Gaza three weeks ago, and that this was largely due to delays or denials of permission for convoys due to expanded Israeli military operations. The WFP said it dispatched 59 aid lorries carrying 930 tonnes of flour to northern Gaza on Monday night, but that the convoy was "stopped along the way and offloaded by hungry civilians in critical need of food to feed their families". A GHF spokesman told news agency Reuters: "Ultimately, the solution is more aid, which will create more certainty and less urgency among the population. "There is not yet enough food to feed everyone in need in Gaza. Our current focus is to feed as many people as is safely possible within the constraints of a highly volatile environment." The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
At least 66 Palestinians killed in shootings on back-to-back days near Gaza aid sites, health ministry says
At least 66 Palestinians have been killed in shootings near aid distribution sites on back-to-back days in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. At least 30 people were killed in a shooting on Wednesday near an aid site close to the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. This is one of the four operational aid sites run by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In relation to the shooting, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement it was "currently unaware of IDF fire during daylight hours that corresponds with the footage circulated in the media." The video was "under review," the IDF said. However, the IDF said it did fire "warning shots" overnight Wednesday toward people who it said were "advancing while posing a threat to the troops." "The IDF is aware of reports regarding individuals injured, the details are under review," the statement said. MORE: Humanitarian groups, UN heavily criticize new aid distribution plan in Gaza The shooting Wednesday came one day after at least 36 were killed, the highest one-day death toll from a shooting near an aid distribution center since the opening of the GHF sites last month, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israeli forces opened fire near an aid distribution site in central Gaza, according to two local hospitals in Gaza. Over 100 people were injured in the shooting, according to the two hospitals. The IDF said in a statement on Tuesday that troops fired "warning shots to distance suspects," who were advancing in the area and "posed a threat to troops." The Israeli army said the warning shots were fired "hundreds of meters form the aid distribution site," before it opened. "The IDF is aware of reports regarding several individuals injured in the area," it said. "An initial inquiry suggests that the number of reported individuals injured does not align with the information held by the IDF." "The details are under review," the IDF said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation -- which has been running aid distribution in Gaza since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade last month -- resumed aid distribution on Monday after previous shootings near aid sites, saying it gave out 1,386,000 meals at two sites. The GHF has not specified what it considers a meal. The GHF has closed its aid distribution sites several times since it began distributing meals after several shooting incidents. As of Wednesday, at least 224 people had been killed while trying to get aid from GHF aid distribution sites, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The blockade was instituted to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken during Hamas' surprise terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of hundreds, Israel said. The GHF was first announced on May 19 -- three days after the Israeli government began its increased military operation in Gaza. After the end of an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid entering Gaza, the GHF -- a private contractor backed by the U.S. and Israel -- took over distributing aid in Gaza. Humanitarian groups and the United Nations have said the GHF politicizes aid and criticized the role of IDF forces in the operation. Palestinians in Gaza remain at risk of extreme starvation and famine even after Israel lifted the blockade on all humanitarian aid entering the Strip, according to aid groups like the U.N., the International Committee of the Red Cross and others. The death toll in the 20-month Hamas-Israel war also crossed 55,000 on Wednesday, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health. There have been another 127,394 injuries during the war, the health ministry said. At least 66 Palestinians killed in shootings on back-to-back days near Gaza aid sites, health ministry says originally appeared on