By Abdul Adil
Israel continued its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 28 more Palestinians in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since October 2023 to 51,305, the Health Ministry said.
A ministry statement added that 105 more injured people were transferred to hospitals, raising the number of injuries to 117,096 during the ongoing Israeli onslaught.
A medical source said eight people were killed when an Israeli warplane struck a home in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City, Anadolu Agency reported.
Ten others were killed in a strike targeting a school sheltering displaced people in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood of northeastern Gaza City, according to the Civil Defense.
The Israeli army later admitted targeting the school, claiming it was being used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
In Jabalia town, a medical source told Anadolu that a child was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a home, with several others injured.
In southern Gaza, the army killed two Palestinians and injured several more in separate strikes on eastern Khan Younis and Al-Mawasi in the city’s western area, a medical source said.
One more Palestinian was killed, and five others were injured in another strike on a tent in the Al-Mawasi area, the source added.
Five people were also injured in a strike that hit a tent sheltering displaced people in Bani Suhaila town, eastern Khan Younis, witnesses said.
The Israeli army also opened heavy machine-gun fire at residential areas in eastern Gaza City and the eastern parts of the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
Rescue teams are aware that at least six more victims remain trapped beneath the rubble in Gaza City, but they are unable to reach them, reported Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud from the city.
“It’s not just their inability to get to the area,” he said. “They lack the heavy equipment needed to remove the rubble and recover the bodies.”
A young Palestinian man sustained critical injuries from live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers during a military raid in the al-Masaken al-Sha’biyya area, east of Nablus, local sources reported.
The sources said he was struck in the chest, and his condition was described as critical.
Israeli forces stormed the area, firing live rounds, tear gas, and sound bombs, leading to confrontations that resulted in the man’s severe injury.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, a twelve-year-old Palestinian boy was killed after being shot by Israeli forces in the town of Yamoun, west of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, the Ministry of Health said, as reported by Wafa News Agency.
The ministry identified the victim as Mahmoud Mithqal Ali Abu al-Haijja, who succumbed to critical wounds sustained from Israeli forces’ live fire.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its crews transported the child—who had sustained fatal gunshot wounds to the cheek and abdomen—from al-Hadaf Medical Center in Yamoun to Jenin Governmental Hospital.
For about a month, Israeli forces have been conducting extensive land-leveling operations on land belonging to residents of the villages of Jinsafut and Al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya.
Jalal Bashir, head of the Jinsafut village council, told WAFA that the occupation forces are continuing the operations in the eastern area of Jinsafut, aiming to pave a wide colonial road linking illegal Israeli settlements east of Qalqilya with its northern outskirts.
He said the new settlers’ road will pass through the main Qalqilya-Nablus road, known as “55”, and connect the settlements located on Jinsafut land: Immanuel, Qarni Shomron, and Qedumim.
Louay Taym, head of Al-Funduq’s village council, said the project will destroy at least 220 dunams of fertile agricultural land owned by around 70 farmers. It will also threaten about 200 more dunams due to their proximity to the bypass road, rendering them unusable for farming or housing.
He explained that the project has also led to the closure of several agricultural roads that previously allowed farmers quick access to their lands, increasing their hardship.
Yemen’s Houthi [Ansar Allah] group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for missile and drone attacks on Israeli targets, including a hypersonic ballistic missile strike on Haifa, amid rising regional tensions over the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reported.
Military spokesman Yahya Saree said Houthi forces fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at a “vital target” in Haifa, northern Israel.
He said the missile hit its target, claiming that Israeli air defences failed to intercept it.
The spokesman also said another “vital target” near Tel Aviv’s Jaffa area was targeted by a drone.
He stated the attacks were acts of solidarity with Palestinians amid the continuing Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Israeli media confirmed that air raid sirens sounded in Haifa and Western Galilee in northern Israel.
Yedioth Ahronoth, citing a military statement, reported that a missile was intercepted by Israeli air defences, without giving further details.
The Houthis have been targeting ships transiting the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians.
They temporarily halted attacks after a ceasefire was declared in Gaza in January between Israel and Hamas, but resumed them after Israeli airstrikes on the enclave resumed last month.
Photo: Grieving relatives of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes mourn as the bodies are brought to al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on April 23. [Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]
