Israeli strikes across Gaza hit multiple homes, killing at least 58
Palestinians, medics say
[March 20, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY
DEIR-AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes killed at least 58
Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday,
according to three hospitals. The strikes hit multiple homes in the
middle of the night, killing men, women and children as they slept.
Hours later, the Israeli military restored a blockade on northern Gaza,
including Gaza City, that it had maintained for most of the war. It
warned residents against using the main highway to enter or leave the
north and said only passage to the south would be allowed on the coastal
road.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to what remains of their
homes in the north after a ceasefire took hold in January. Israel
resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering the truce that
had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel
blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected
a new proposal that departed from their signed agreement.
The Trump administration, which took credit for helping to broker the
ceasefire, has voiced full support for Israel. More than 400
Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children,
according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
There have been no reports of Hamas firing rockets or carrying out other
attacks.
The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched by Yemen's
Iran-backed Houthi rebels early Thursday before it reached Israeli
airspace, as air raid sirens and exploding interceptors were heard in
Jerusalem. No injuries were reported. It was the second such attack
since the United States began a new campaign of airstrikes against the
rebels earlier this week.
One of the strikes on Gaza early Thursday hit the Abu Daqa family’s home
in Abasan al-Kabira, a village just outside of Khan Younis near the
border with Israel. It was inside an area the Israeli military ordered
evacuated earlier this week, encompassing most of eastern Gaza.
The strike killed at least 16 people, mostly women and children,
according to the nearby European Hospital, which received the dead.
Those killed included a father and his seven children, as well as the
parents and brother of a month-old baby who survived along with her
grandparents.
“Another tough night,” said Hani Awad, who was helping rescuers search
for more survivors in the rubble. “The house collapsed over the people’s
heads.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the latest
strikes. The military says it only targets militants and blames civilian
deaths on Hamas because it is deeply embedded in residential areas.
Israeli ground troops advance
On Wednesday, Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time
since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor
separating the northern third of the territory from the south. The
announcement about passage to the south indicated troops will soon
retake full control over what is known as the Netzarim corridor,
stretching from the border to the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel, which has also cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian
aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians, has vowed to intensify its
operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 35 of whom
are believed dead — and gives up control of the territory. The Trump
administration, which took credit for brokering the ceasefire, says it
fully supports Israel.
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Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings traveling from
Beit Hanoun to Jabaliya, a day after Israel's renewed offensive in
the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in
exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from
Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire agreement they reached in
January after more than a year of mediation by the United States,
Egypt and Qatar.
Hamas, which does not accept Israel's existence, says it is willing
to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a
committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms
until Israel ends its decades-long occupation of lands the
Palestinians want for a future state.
A ‘bloody night’ for hard-hit northern town
The European Hospital in the southern city of Rafah said it received
36 bodies after the overnight strikes, mostly women and children.
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received seven and transferred
four to European, which were included in its count. In northern
Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital said it had received 19 bodies after
strikes in the town of Beit Lahiya near the border.
“It was a bloody night for the people of Beit Lahiya,” said Fares
Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency service in northern
Gaza, adding that rescuers were still searching the rubble from
homes that were hit. “The situation is catastrophic.”
Beit Lahiya was heavily destroyed and largely depopulated during the
first phase of the war before January’s ceasefire. On Wednesday, an
Israeli strike on a gathering of mourners killed 17 people there,
according to health officials.
No end in sight to the 17-month war
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel
on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or
other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and
recovered the bodies of dozens more.
Israel's retaliatory offensive, among the deadliest and most
destructive in recent history, has killed nearly 49,000
Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say
how many were militants, but says more than half of those killed
were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000
militants, without providing evidence.
The war at its height displaced around 90% of Gaza's population and
has caused vast destruction across the territory. Hundreds of
thousands of people returned to their homes during the ceasefire,
but many found only fields of rubble and the bombed-out shells of
buildings.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo.
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