Israel kills 115 Palestinians in Gaza as Trump tours region

Deadly wave of Israeli airstrikes wipes out families, shuts hospitals and kills a journalist amid Nakba anniversary

GAZA, Palestine (MNTV) — As U.S. President Donald Trump is touring the Middle East, Israeli warplanes unleashed one of the deadliest 24-hour bombardments in Gaza killing at least 115 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

The strikes, which also left 152 injured, have plunged the Gaza Strip into further chaos and despair, coinciding with Palestinians’ commemoration of the 77th Nakba anniversary — the mass displacement that began with the creation of Israel in 1948.

Many Palestinians saw a symbolic overlap between the historic Nakba and the ongoing destruction of Gaza — both marked by mass dispossession and international complicity.

At least 61 people were killed overnight in Khan Younis alone, Gaza’s Health Ministry confirmed. In the north, Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza City and the Jabalia refugee camp.

The civil defense authority reported being overwhelmed and under-equipped, struggling to rescue those trapped under debris. “It’s a massacre,” one rescuer told media outlets. “We’re digging with our bare hands.”

Among the victims was journalist Ahmed al-Halou, a reporter for Al-Quds News Network, killed in an Israeli strike.

His death brings the total number of Palestinian journalists killed since October to 217. Local officials said his location was not near any military target.

Health officials say Israel also deliberately targeted hospitals, hitting Al Awda in Jabalia, the Indonesian Hospital in Khan Younis, and the European Gaza Hospital, the last facility offering cancer treatment.

The Health Ministry said the closure of the European Hospital deprives hundreds of cancer patients of life-saving care. A recent Israeli attack on the hospital killed six people and wounded 40, just as WHO staff and 284 patients were preparing for a pre-approved medical evacuation. “The strike occurred despite full coordination,” said WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“This is not war. This is targeted, systemic destruction of our society,” said Abu Azzoum, a civil defence official, describing how nine homes were flattened without warning in Khan Younis. “Whole families were killed while asleep.”

Further south, a man, his wife, and two daughters were killed when their tent in the Al-Mawasi area was hit. In Al-Fukhari, ten more were killed in a separate airstrike. In total, more than 50 people were killed in Jabalia alone.

Rescue teams reported dire shortages of fuel and equipment. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said civil defense crews are pulling bodies from the rubble using primitive tools, with survivors often doing the digging themselves. “We can hear voices under the ruins, but we can’t reach them,” one volunteer said.

The cumulative toll of Israel’s military offensive now stands at 53,010 Palestinians killed and nearly 120,000 injured since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Aid agencies and human rights groups warn that the actual numbers are likely higher, as thousands remain missing under collapsed buildings.

In November last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, charging them with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their conduct in Gaza.

Despite the warrants, both leaders remain in office, and military operations continue unabated.