Israeli Strikes Across Gaza Kill At Least 58 Palestinians: Report

Israeli strikes hit multiple homes and killed at least 58 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, while the men, women and children were sleeping in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, the Associated Press reported, citing three hospitals.

The Israeli military also restored a blockade on northern Gaza early Thursday, warning residents against the use of the main highway to enter or leave the north, the report stated.

The European Hospital in southern Gaza reported that at least 36 bodies were received following the strikes, with many of the victims being women and children. The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received seven bodies, while the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza reported an additional 19 fatalities. Many of the deaths occurred in the towns of Beit Lahiya and Abasan al-Kabira, where homes were reduced to rubble by the bombings.

The renewed fighting, blamed by Israel on Hamas’s refusal to accept a new proposal, has seen Israeli ground troops advance for the first time since the ceasefire. On Wednesday, they seized part of the Netzarim corridor, a vital route linking the north to the south of Gaza.

Since October 2023, when Hamas members launched attacks in southern Israel, nearly 49,000 Palestinians have been killed, with more than half of those fatalities being women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Israeli government, however, claims to have killed around 20,000 militants, the report added.

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