Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 59 as Israel prepares to ramp
up its offensive
[May 07, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and TIA GOLDENBERG
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at
least 59 people, including women and children, hospital officials said
Wednesday, as Israel prepares to ramp up its campaign against Hamas in a
devastating war now entering its 20th month.
The strikes included one attack on Tuesday night on a school sheltering
hundreds of displaced Palestinians, which killed 27 people, officials
from the Al-Aqsa Hospital said, including nine women and three children.
It was the fifth time since the war began that the school in central
Gaza has been struck.
An early morning strike on another school turned shelter in Gaza City
killed 16 people, according to officials at Al-Ahli Hospital, while
strikes on targets in other areas killed at least 16 others.
A large column of smoke rose and fires pierced the dark skies above the
school shelter in Bureij, a built-up urban refugee camp. Paramedics and
rescuers rushed to pull people out from the blaze.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. Israel
blames Hamas for the death toll because it operates from civilian
infrastructure, including schools.
The new bloodshed comes days after Israel approved a plan to intensify
its operations in the Palestinian enclave, which would include seizing
Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing
Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution
along with private security companies.
Israel is also calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to carry
out the plan. Israel says the plan will be gradual and will not be
implemented until after U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his visit
to the region later this month.
Any escalation of fighting would likely drive up the death toll. And
with Israel already controlling some 50% of Gaza, increasing its hold on
the territory, for an indefinite amount of time, could open up the
potential for a military occupation, which would raise questions about
how Israel plans to have the territory governed, especially at a time
when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over
Gaza.
Trump jars Israelis with remark on hostage figures
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing
1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel’s offensive has
killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children,
according to Palestinian health officials. The officials do not
distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
Trump on Tuesday stunned many in Israel when he declared that only 21 of
the 59 hostages remaining in Gaza are still alive. Israel insists that
figure stands at 24, although an Israeli official said there was
“serious concern” for the lives of three captives. The official said
there has been no sign of life from those three, whom the official did
not identify. He said that until there is evidence proving otherwise,
the three are considered to be alive. The official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details related to the war,
said the families of the captives were updated on those developments.
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Smoke rises to the sky in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern
Israel, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the
families of the captives, demanded from Israel's government that if
there is “new information being kept from us, give it to us
immediately.” It also called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to halt the war in Gaza until all hostages are returned.
“This is the most urgent and important national mission,” it said on
a post on X.
Since Israel ended a ceasefire with the Hamas militant group in
mid-March, it has unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed
hundreds and has captured swaths of territory. Before the truce
ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory,
including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to the
be the worst humanitarian crisis in 19 months of war.
Key interlocutors Qatar and Egypt said Wednesday that mediation
efforts were “ongoing and consistent.” But Israel and Hamas remain
far apart on how they see the war ending. Israel says it won't end
the war until Hamas' governing and military capabilities are
dismantled, something it has failed to do in 19 months of war. Hamas
says it is prepared to release all of the hostages for an end to the
war and a long term truce with Israel.
The US-Houthi deal does not appear to cover Israel
Against the backdrop of the plans to intensify the campaign in Gaza,
fighting has also escalated between Israel and Iranian-backed Houthi
rebels in Yemen.
The Houthis fired a ballistic missile earlier this week that landed
on the grounds of Israel's main international airport. Israel
responded with a series of airstrikes over two days, whose targets
included the airport in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.
The Houthis have been striking Israel and targets in a main Red Sea
shipping route since the war began in solidarity with the
Palestinians. On Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. would halt a nearly
two-monthlong campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, after the rebel
group agreed not to target U.S. ships.
Israel does not appear to be covered by the U.S.-Houthi agreement.
The Israeli official said the deal came as a surprise to Israel and
that it was concerned by it because of what it meant for the
continuation of hostilities between it and the Houthis.
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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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