Israel intensifies Gaza bombardment, kills 80 people, as Trump visits Gulf
A woman walks over a destroyed road in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on 14 May, 2025.
Photo:
AFP / Eyad Baba
By
Nidal al-Mughrabi
,
Reuters
Israeli military strikes killed at least 80 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, local health authorities said, in an intensification of the bombardment as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East.
Medics said most of the dead, including women and children, were killed in a barrage of Israeli airstrikes on houses in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza on Wednesday (local time).
Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to people in several districts in Gaza City, forcing thousands of Palestinians to leave their shelters.
The areas threatened by the evacuation warnings included several schools and the largest Shifa Hospital, according to a map published by the Israeli army.
Witnesses and medics said shortly after the evacuation orders Israeli planes carried several airstrikes against targets within Gaza City.
"Some victims are still on the road and under the rubble where rescue and civil emergency teams can't reach (them)," the health ministry statement said.
Israel's military had no immediate comment. It said it was trying to verify the reports.
Reuters television footage showed residents returning to the ruins of their homes. Some sifted through the remains of walls and furniture, looking for documents and belongings.
"They fired two rockets, they told us the house of Moqbel (had been hit)," said Hadi Moqbel, who lost relatives in the attack in Jabalia. "We came running, we saw body parts on the ground, children killed, the woman killed and a baby killed - his head was exploded like a flower. He was two months old."
Israeli press reports on Wednesday cited security officials as saying they believed Hamas military leader Mohammad Sinwar and other senior officials had been killed in a strike on Tuesday on what the Israeli military described as a command and control bunker under the European Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
A man walks past a bus inside a crater in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on 14 May 2025.
Photo:
AFP / Eyad Baba
There was no confirmation by the Israeli military or Hamas. On Wednesday, witnesses and medics said an Israeli airstrike hit a bulldozer that approached the area of the strike at the European Hospital, wounding several people.
Late on Tuesday, Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed militant group allied with Hamas, fired rockets from Gaza towards Israel. Shortly before Israel hit back, its military issued evacuation orders to residents in the area of Jabalia and nearby Beit Lahiya.
Palestinians hope Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will provide pressure for a reduction of violence. Hamas on Monday released Edan Alexander, the last known living American hostage it had been holding.
Trump said in Riyadh on Tuesday that more hostages would follow Alexander and that the people of Gaza deserved a better future. He is not visiting Israel during his Middle East trip.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, right, and US President Donald Trump at the Royal Court in Riyadh on 13 May 2025.
Photo:
AFP / Brendan Smialowski
Ceasefire efforts have faltered. Hamas talked to the United States and Egyptian and Qatari mediators to arrange Alexander's release, and Israel has sent a team to Doha to begin a new round of talks.
On Tuesday, Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler met hostage families in Tel Aviv and said they saw a better chance of an agreement for the hostages' release following the deal over Alexander.
Hamas said on Wednesday the continued attacks indicated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to "escalate the aggression and massacres against civilians to undermine those (ceasefire) efforts". Israel has blamed Hamas for the continuing war.
The US has presented a plan to reopen humanitarian aid deliveries in Gaza using private contractors. Israel, which imposed a total blockade of supplies going into Gaza from March 2, has endorsed the plan but it has been rejected by the United Nations and international aid agencies.
Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on 7 October 2023, in which about 1200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
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