DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in a single day and into Sunday killed 15 individuals within the Gaza Strip, principally girls and youngsters, in keeping with native well being officers.
Two of the strikes hit tents within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, every killing two youngsters and their mother and father, in keeping with Nasser Hospital, which acquired the our bodies. One other seven individuals had been killed in strikes elsewhere, together with a person and his youngster in a Gaza Metropolis neighborhood, in keeping with hospitals and Gaza’s Well being Ministry.
The Israeli army says it targets solely militants and tries to keep away from harming civilians. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths within the 19-month-old struggle as a result of the militants are embedded in densely populated areas.
Israel has sealed Gaza off from all imports — together with meals, drugs and emergency shelter — for over 10 weeks in what it says is a strain tactic geared toward forcing Hamas to launch its hostages. Israel resumed its offensive in March, shattering a ceasefire that had facilitated the discharge of greater than 30 hostages.
The U.N. and help teams say meals and different provides are working low and starvation is widespread.
Kids carrying empty bottles raced after a water tanker in a devastated space of northern Gaza on Sunday. Residents of the built-up Shati refugee camp mentioned the water was introduced by a charity from elsewhere in Gaza. With out it, they depend on wells which might be salty and infrequently polluted.
“I am forced to drink salty water. I have no choice,” Mahmoud Radwan mentioned. “This causes intestinal disease, and there’s no medicine to treat it.”
COGAT, the Israeli army physique in control of Palestinian civilian affairs, says sufficient help entered throughout a two-month ceasefire this yr and that two of the three essential water strains from Israel are nonetheless functioning. Support teams say the humanitarian disaster is worse than at any time within the 19-month struggle.
U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has voiced full assist for Israel’s actions, is ready to go to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week in a regional tour that won’t embrace Israel.
The struggle started when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 individuals, principally civilians, and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, round a 3rd of them believed to be alive; many of the relaxation had been launched in ceasefire agreements or different offers.
