Israeli jets struck a residential neighbourhood in the war-torn northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people, health officials said, as renewed fighting in the devastated Palestinian enclave showed no signs of slowing.
Israeli strike on Gaza kills at 23 Palestinians
Al-Ahli Hospital said the strike killed at least 23 people, including eight women and eight children. The Territory’s Ministry of Health confirmed the figures.
The strike struck a four-storey building in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City, and rescuers are searching for victims under the rubble, according to the health ministry’s ambulance service. Civil Defence, a rescue group run by the Hamas government, said other neighbouring buildings were damaged in the strike.
The Israeli military said it struck a high-ranking Hamas militant believed to be behind the attacks emanating from Shujayea, but did not name him or provide other details. Israel holds Hamas responsible for the deaths of Palestinian civilians because it has been operating in densely populated urban areas.
Increasing pressure on Hamas to accept the release of hostages, Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of Gaza, including Shujayea. It imposed a blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid, leaving civilians severely short of goods. Israel has promised to seize most of the Palestinian territory and create a new security corridor through it.
The UN said the Israeli military had refused humanitarian workers permission for more than two-thirds of 170 attempts to move humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said efforts to get dwindling humanitarian supplies to the Palestinians were “severely hampered.” The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Activists pour hundreds of litres of blood-red dye into US Embassy pond in protest against arms sales to Israel
Greenpeace UK activists poured 300 litres of blood-red dye into the US embassy pond to highlight the protest against the US continuing to sell arms to Israel.
Twelve activists poured the non-toxic, biodegradable dye from containers labelled “Stop arming Israel” into a large pond located in front of the embassy building in Nine Elms, south-west London. The containers were carried to the embassy on bicycles with trailers disguised as parcel bikes.
Since taking office in January, Donald Trump has continued his predecessor’s policy of supplying arms to Israel, approving some $12 billion in military sales, according to the US State Department.
Massive offensive continues
The protest comes as Israeli troops step up military activity in Gaza after the collapse of a fragile truce last month. Israel has also closed Gaza’s entry points since early March, blocking food, medicine and medical equipment at the border and denying humanitarian access to those in need. This also comes after a series of recent comments by Trump in which he talks about the constant eviction of Palestinians from Gaza, that “the US will take over the Gaza Strip,” and that Gaza could become the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
The war has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but says more than half of the dead are women and children. During the October 7, 2023 attack, Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians and took 250 prisoners.
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis wrote on X:
“Israel violated the ceasefire it had signed so as to murder 1,500 people, injuring 3,700 others in the process. For ‘good’ measure, it has also been starving the survivors of food and medicine. And the West continues to fret about Trump’s on-off tariffs!”
