At least 59 Palestinians, including children, were killed on Thursday in a wave of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera. The attacks hit densely populated residential areas, adding to the already soaring civilian toll in the besieged enclave.
In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, an airstrike on a family home killed at least 12 members of the same household. Another strike in Gaza City levelled a residence, killing six members of a family, including four children, according to the civil defence.
Ahmed Arar, a first responder, described the aftermath in Gaza City as horrific. “There are only hands, legs, and heads. They are all severed and torn,” he told Al Jazeera. At least 10 more people were killed in a strike on a former police station near a market in Jabalia, the Indonesian Hospital reported.
The Israeli military claimed it was targeting a Hamas “command and control centre,” but did not confirm if the police station was the intended site. Elsewhere, 26 more people were reported killed in separate strikes, according to medics and Gaza’s civil defence agency.
The Israeli offensive resumed on March 18 after a two-month ceasefire and continues for an eighth week, with border crossings sealed and humanitarian aid largely blocked.
The UN has warned that Israel’s ongoing evacuation orders across northern Gaza are resulting in the “forcible transfer” of civilians, further compounding the crisis.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Durra Children’s Hospital in Gaza City has become nonoperational after sustaining damage in a recent Israeli strike. The attack destroyed the hospital’s solar power system and intensive care unit.
Read more: 90% of Gaza Destroyed Amid Escalating Crisis, UN Agency Reveals
The Israeli military said Thursday that a UN worker killed in Deir el-Balah in March was struck by Israeli tank fire, reversing earlier denials. It also admitted operational failures in an earlier strike that killed 15 Palestinian emergency workers, saying a field commander will be dismissed.
Since the conflict resumed, 1,978 Palestinians have been killed, raising the death toll to over 51,000 since October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Ceasefire negotiations led by Qatar and Egypt, with US backing, have so far failed to produce a resolution.
