In Gaza, 45 killed in strikes as desperately needed aid fails to reach
Palestinians
[May 21, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN
Deir al-Balah, Gaza (AP) — Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli strikes
overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 45 people, including
several women and a week-old infant.
The fresh strikes come as Israel’s war on Hamas shows no signs of
relenting, despite a surge in international anger at Israel’s widening
offensive.
Israel began allowing dozens of humanitarian trucks into Gaza on
Tuesday, but the aid has not yet reached Palestinians in desperate need,
according to aid groups. U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said
Tuesday evening that although the aid has entered Gaza, aid workers were
not able to bring it to distribution points where it is most needed,
after the Israeli military forced them to reload the supplies onto
separate trucks and workers ran out of time.
Internal notes circulated among aid groups Wednesday and seen by The
Associated Press said that no humanitarian trucks had left Kerem Shalom,
the border crossing in southern Gaza that is operated by Israel. The
notes said 65 trucks moved from the Israel side of the crossing to the
Palestinian side, but hadn’t made it into Gaza.
The Israeli defense body that oversees humanitarian aid to Gaza said
trucks were entering into Gaza on Wednesday morning, but it was unclear
if that aid was able to continue into Gaza for distribution. The U.N.
agency for Palestinian refugees said they waited several hours to
collect aid from the border crossing in order to begin distribution but
were unable to do so on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the U.K. suspended free trade talks with Israel over its
intensifying assault, a step that came a day after the U.K., Canada and
France promised concrete steps to prompt Israel to halt the war.
Separately, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the
bloc was reviewing an EU pact governing trade ties with Israel over its
conduct of the war in Gaza.
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Palestinians inspect a house destroyed by an Israeli airstrikes in
Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem
Hana)
Israel says it is prepared to stop the war once all the hostages
taken by Hamas return home and Hamas is defeated, or is exiled and
disarmed. Hamas says it is prepared to release the hostages in
exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory and an end
to the war. It rejects demands for exile and disarmament.
Israel called back its senior negotiating team from ceasefire talks
in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday, saying it would leave
lower-level officials in place instead.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes continued to pound Gaza. In the southern
city of Khan Younis, where Israel recently ordered new evacuations
pending an expected expanded offensive, 24 people were killed, 14 of
them from the same family. A week-old infant was killed in central
Gaza.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes but
has said it is targeting Hamas infrastructure and accused Hamas
militants of operating from civilian areas.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern
Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting
251 others. The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a
third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were
returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of
Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and
children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t
differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
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