DEIR EL-BALAH – Local hospitals reported that at least 22 children lost their lives in Gaza during a series of Israeli airstrikes on homes in northern Gaza overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday.
The Indonesian Hospital in Jabaliya documented a total of at least 48 casualties resulting from the strikes. These attacks occurred following the release of an Israeli-American hostage by Hamas as part of a deal facilitated by the United States while President Donald Trump was on a visit to Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was “no way” Israel would halt its war in Gaza, dimming hopes for a ceasefire.
Although the Israeli military declined to provide a statement regarding the airstrikes, it had previously advised residents of Jabaliya to evacuate late Tuesday night due to the presence of Hamas infrastructure, including rocket launchers, in the area.
In comments released by Netanyahu’s office Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission. … It means destroying Hamas.”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in a 2023 intrusion into southern Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.
Israel’s offensive has obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
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