54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital
says
[May 15, 2025]
By MOHAMMAD JAHJOUH and TIA GOLDENBERG
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Multiple airstrikes hit Gaza’s southern
city of Khan Younis overnight into Thursday, killing more than 50 people
in a second consecutive night of heavy bombing.
The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Middle East,
visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that
Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of
humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in
its third month.
An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on
the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the
morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces,
with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The
hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.
The dead included a journalist working for Qatari television network Al
Araby TV, the network announced on social media, saying Hasan Samour had
been killed along with 11 members of his family in one of the strikes in
Khan Younis.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on
northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost
two dozen children.
Israel has vowed to escalate the war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to
push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the
Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group,
which governs Gaza.
In comments released by Netanyahu’s office Tuesday, the prime minister
said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza “with great
strength to complete the mission ... It means destroying Hamas.”
International rights group Human Rights Watch said Thursday that
Israel’s stated plan of seizing Gaza and displacing hundreds of
thousands of people “inches closer to extermination,” and called on the
international community to speak out against it.
The war began when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in an Oct. 7,
2023 intrusion into southern Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has
killed nearly 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children,
according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were
combatants. Almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire
on March 18, the ministry said.
Hamas still holds 58 of the roughly 250 hostages it took during its Oct.
7 attack on Israel, with 23 believed to still be alive, although Israeli
authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of those.
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Palestinians evacuate after the Israeli army issued an evacuation
warning for several schools and a hospital in Gaza City's Rimal
neighborhood, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Gaza’s only hospital providing cancer treatments out of service
due to Israeli strikes
Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli strikes have
rendered the European Hospital Khan Younis — the only remaining
facility providing cancer treatments in Gaza — out of service due to
severe damage to its infrastructure and access roads.
The shutdown halts all specialized treatments, including cardiac
surgeries and cancer care, the ministry added.
The Israeli military conducted two airstrikes against the European
Hospital Tuesday, saying it was targeting a Hamas command center
beneath the facility. Six people were killed in the strike.
European Hospital director Imad al-Hout told AP there had been 200
patients in the hospital at the time of Tuesday’s strikes. They were
all gradually evacuated, with the last 90 transferred to other
hospitals, including Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, on Wednesday
morning. Efforts were now underway to coordinate repairs to the
facility, he added.
Israeli blockade of aid into Gaza in its third month
Israel’s offensive has obliterated vast swathes of Gaza’s urban
landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
It halted the entry of all aid, including food and medication, into
the territory on March 2, and international food security experts
have warned that Gaza will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn’t
lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation
while 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to
findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a
leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.
Human Rights Watch said Israel's plan to seize Gaza and remain
there, coupled with the “systematic destruction” of civilian
infrastructure and the block on all imports into the territory, were
cause for signatories to the Genocide Convention to act to prevent
Israel’s moves.
Israel vehemently denies accusations that it is committing genocide
in Gaza.
The group also called on Hamas to free the hostages it still holds.
___
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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