GAZA CITY: At least 50 Palestinians were killed on Friday in fresh Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. The agency, operating under Hamas authority, reported that 30 of those deaths occurred in Gaza City, where Israeli forces have intensified their offensive.
The Israeli military confirmed that its air force struck over 140 targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours. These included terrorist positions, tunnel shafts, and military infrastructure, as part of a broader campaign that began with a ground offensive on Gaza City launched on September 16.
Media restrictions and limited access to many parts of Gaza mean independent verification of casualty figures remains difficult. AFP footage from Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City showed extensive destruction caused by recent airstrikes. Among the devastation, a barefoot young girl was seen searching through rubble for personal belongings, while toppled poles tangled power lines across the area.
Since late August, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from Gaza City due to the ongoing conflict. The Israeli military estimates that some 700,000 people have fled the urban center, while the United Nations humanitarian office reports around 388,400 displaced individuals since mid-August, most of them from Gaza City.
In the overcrowded tent city of Al-Mawasi along the Mediterranean coast, displaced residents face severe hardship. Um Youssef al-Shaer, 50, described sharing a small tent with her husband, six children, and her husband’s elderly parents — a total of 10 people living in cramped conditions.
The conflict, now nearly two years old, has inflicted a heavy toll on Gaza’s population. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reports that at least 65,549 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli military operations during this period — a figure that the United Nations considers reliable.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli sources.
Leave a comment