At least 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 27 people who had sought refuge in a school, according to Palestinian health officials. The intensification of Israel’s military campaign is aimed at exerting pressure on Hamas, with an ultimate objective of expelling the militant group from the territory, Israel’s military stated.
Zaher al-Wahidi, spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry, said the bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the school in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood. He warned that the death toll could rise further as many among the 70 injured were in critical condition. In the nearby Shijaiyah neighbourhood, over 30 other residents were killed in strikes on homes, he added, citing hospital records from Ahli Hospital.
The Israeli military claimed it had targeted a “Hamas command and control centre” in the area and had taken measures to minimise civilian casualties. A similar justification was offered for the airstrike on a United Nations shelter a day earlier, which claimed at least 17 lives.
Hamas denounced the attack on the school as a “heinous massacre” of innocent civilians.
Israel’s military issued fresh orders for residents of northern Gaza to evacuate west and southwards, warning that it intended to “work with extreme force in your area.” Many Palestinians fled on foot, carrying meagre belongings on their backs or using donkey carts.
“My wife and I have been walking for three hours covering only one kilometre,” said Mohammad Ermana, 72, as he and his wife, both using canes, clasped hands while walking. “I’m searching for shelters every hour now, not every day,” he lamented.
Since the breakdown of a ceasefire last month, the United Nations humanitarian office estimates that around 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced. The crisis has deepened as Israel continues to enforce a blockade on food, fuel, and humanitarian aid, a move that rights organisations decry as a war crime.
Strikes leave dozens dead
Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 55 Palestinians, according to hospital sources. In Khan Younis, 14 bodies—including nine from the same family—were taken to Nasser Hospital, with five children and four women among the dead. The European Hospital near Khan Younis received 19 bodies, including those of five children aged between one and seven years, as well as a pregnant woman. Ahli Hospital in Gaza City received 21 bodies, including seven children.
Later in the day, four more were killed in Khan Younis, while two deaths were reported in central Gaza.
The strikes came as the Israeli military announced an independent investigation into its 23 March operation, during which its forces opened fire on ambulances in southern Gaza. United Nations officials state that 15 Palestinian medics and emergency responders were killed, their bodies later buried in a mass grave by Israeli forces.
The head of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Younes Al-Khatib, said on Thursday that he believed some of the medics were still alive when Israeli troops overtook them. Al-Khatib told the United Nations Security Council that his organisation’s radio dispatchers heard a conversation in Hebrew between the medics and Israeli soldiers after the ambulances had been struck.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, presented video footage which he claimed showed the moments leading up to the Israeli attack on the humanitarian workers. He alleged that the video, recovered from one of the deceased, demonstrated that the workers had their emergency lights on and were operating in coordination with the Israeli Defence Forces, yet they were ambushed regardless.
Israeli expansion plans
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to establish a security corridor across Gaza, a move that would effectively sever Rafah from the rest of the territory. Israel has also reasserted control over the Netzarim corridor, which divides the northern third of Gaza from the remainder of the Strip.
Netanyahu has signalled that Israel intends to maintain “overall security control” over Gaza after the war and implement US President Donald Trump’s proposal to encourage what he called “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians. The plan has been condemned by Palestinians as forced displacement and has drawn criticism from human rights experts who argue it could constitute a violation of international law.
Mounting death toll
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. While the ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, it states that more than half of the dead are women and children. Israel claims to have killed around 20,000 militants but has not provided evidence to substantiate the figure.
The conflict began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched an assault on southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and taking 251 hostages. The majority of these hostages have since been released through ceasefire agreements and other deals, while Israel has rescued eight hostages and recovered several bodies.
Netanyahu Travels to Hungary
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary on Thursday, his second foreign visit since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him in November over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The ICC accuses Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant of using “starvation as a method of warfare” and deliberately targeting civilians—allegations that Israel denies.
Hungary, an ICC member state, is legally obligated to arrest Netanyahu but has instead announced plans to withdraw from the court.
Israeli Strike in Lebanon
Early Friday, at least two people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the Lebanese city of Sidon. Emergency responders retrieved the bodies from a multi-storey building, an Associated Press photographer reported.
This marks the first strike on Sidon since a tenuous ceasefire ended the last Israel-Hezbollah conflict in late November. Israel has continued targeting what it claims are Hezbollah-affiliated sites despite the ceasefire agreement.
