Families decimated, dozens killed as Israel intensifies Gaza war

Shafaq News/ Dozens of Palestinians were killed on Thursday as Israeli forces ramped up air and ground assaults across the Gaza Strip, while the Israeli military reported one soldier killed in clashes in the north of the enclave.

The army identified the fallen soldier as a reservist staff sergeant, killed in combat in northern Gaza. Two others — a military officer and a soldier — were injured in a separate shooting near the perimeter fence in Beit Hanoun, close to the Israeli border.

The latest surge in violence came as Israeli airstrikes pummeled multiple areas of Gaza. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, 65 Palestinians were killed since dawn Thursday. Local media reported that 15 of those deaths occurred when an airstrike hit a building sheltering displaced civilians in Jabalia, in the north.

In the early hours of Friday, an Israeli drone strike killed five members of a single-family — a father, a pregnant mother, and their three children — as they sheltered in a tent in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, local journalists and Al-Aqsa TV reported.

In Rafah, further south, Israeli forces reportedly resumed the demolition of homes, while in Gaza City, a medical clinic in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood was targeted, injuring several and damaging critical infrastructure.

The Israeli army said it had struck a command center jointly used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Jabalia, claiming it was “used to coordinate attacks against Israeli civilians.”

Since Israel resumed its war on March 18 — after a 60-day truce mediated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar — at least 1,978 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,200 wounded, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The overall death toll since the war began on October 7 has surpassed 51,000, with over 117,000 injured — the vast majority of women and children.

The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) warned Thursday that its supplies of flour, fuel, and child vaccines were nearly depleted amid an ongoing Israeli blockade that has now lasted more than 50 days. “Children are starving, the sick are untreated, and people are dying,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, calling for the immediate lifting of restrictions.

Civil Society and Rights groups are sounding the alarm. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor warned that the Israeli-imposed siege and systemic destruction in Gaza “amount to genocide,” citing the collapse of financial systems, medical infrastructure, and civilian life.

Israeli media reported that Mossad Director David Barnea traveled to Doha for renewed talks on a potential ceasefire and hostage exchange.