Israel kills 46 Palestinians in Gaza; journalist among dead in hospital bombing

Continuous Israeli airstrikes kill dozens, target medical facilities, as Netanyahu vows to press on with full-scale Gaza invasion and displacement plan

GAZA, Palestine (MNTV)  — Israel’s ongoing military offensive on the Gaza Strip has intensified, with at least 46 more Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours, according to local health authorities.

The renewed wave of airstrikes, which also injured at least 73 others, came after a brief pause in fighting that enabled the release of a dual U.S.-Israeli captive.

Health Ministry said the death toll from Israel’s ongoing military campaign, now in its eighth month, has risen to 52,908, with more than 119,721 people injured.

Rescue efforts continue to be severely hampered, with many victims still buried beneath the rubble of flattened homes and shelters.

Among those killed in Tuesday’s attacks was journalist Hassan Eslaih, head of the Alam24 news outlet, who died when an Israeli airstrike hit the surgeries building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Eslaih had been receiving treatment there after being injured in a previous Israeli airstrike on April 7, which killed two other journalists.

Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal confirmed the strike on the hospital occurred at dawn, breaking a brief ceasefire that had facilitated the release of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander the previous day.

A second journalist was also killed in the same hospital strike, according to medical sources.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the hospital bombing, calling it a violation of international norms protecting media personnel.

CPJ noted that at least 178 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon since October 7, 2023—marking one of the deadliest periods for the press in recent memory.

Airstrikes also devastated civilian areas across Gaza on Tuesday, including the northern town of Beit Lahia, Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, and the central refugee camps of Nuseirat and Bureij.

In Beit Lahia, three members of a single family were killed when a shell struck their makeshift tent, which was sheltering displaced civilians. Three more Palestinians were killed in Shejaiya, while a fourth succumbed to injuries sustained in an earlier attack there.

A drone strike in Nuseirat killed one person and injured two more, while a similar strike in Bureij left another civilian wounded. In Khan Younis, a police commander was killed in a separate Israeli strike, and yet another Palestinian was reported killed in the western part of the city.

Witnesses described intense artillery shelling and heavy gunfire from Israeli tanks and military vehicles targeting the Al-Tuffah and Shejaiya neighborhoods in eastern Gaza City. Systematic home demolitions were also reported in both eastern Gaza and southern Rafah, further displacing already homeless civilians.

In the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, an Israeli shell struck near Al-Ramlah School, where hundreds of displaced families were taking refuge. A woman was killed and a child critically injured in the blast. Separate artillery fire later struck a residential building in the same area, wounding several Palestinians, local medical sources reported.

Amid the rising civilian death toll and condemnation from humanitarian agencies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that the Israeli military is preparing to launch a full-force operation in Gaza.

“In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation. Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a statement from his office. “There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way.”

In a separate meeting with wounded Israeli soldiers on Monday, Netanyahu revealed that his government is actively working to facilitate the mass departure of Palestinians from Gaza.

“We’ve set up an administration that will allow them [Gaza residents] to leave, but we need countries willing to take them in,” his office quoted him as saying. He estimated that “over 50 percent” of the population would leave Gaza “if given the option.”

The comments have sparked international alarm, with critics accusing Israel of using war to engineer forced displacement on a massive scale—an act that could constitute ethnic cleansing under international law.

Human rights groups warn that Gaza’s humanitarian collapse is accelerating. Israel’s military campaign has decimated medical infrastructure, displaced over 1.7 million people, and left essential services in ruins.

The bombardment of hospitals—considered protected civilian infrastructure under international law—has added another layer of crisis to an already collapsing healthcare system.

With tens of thousands injured, Gaza’s remaining medical facilities are overwhelmed, operating with dwindling supplies and staff under constant threat.

“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a grim update.