Israeli Strikes Kill Over 100 in Gaza as New Offensive Escalates Fighting

Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 103 people overnight and into Sunday, according to hospitals and medics, prompting the closure of northern Gaza’s main hospital as the conflict enters its 20th month with no sign of de-escalation.

In southern Gaza, more than 48 people were reported killed in and around the city of Khan Younis, including 18 children and 13 women, Nasser Hospital spokesperson Weam Fares said. Strikes hit houses and tents sheltering displaced individuals.

In northern Gaza, a strike on a home in the Jabaliya refugee camp killed nine members of a single family, while another strike in the same area killed ten people, including seven children and a woman, according to emergency services and the Hamas-run civil defense.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. Israel has consistently blamed civilian casualties on Hamas, accusing the group of operating within densely populated civilian areas.

The strikes came as Israel launched a new phase of its military campaign named “Gideon’s Chariots,” aimed at seizing more territory, displacing Palestinians further south, and increasing control over aid distribution. The offensive is intended to pressure Hamas into accepting a temporary ceasefire to secure the release of Israeli hostages, without ending the conflict. Hamas, however, demands a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and a path to ending the war.

Israeli officials had previously stated they would hold off the new offensive until after U.S. President Donald Trump’s regional tour, which concluded Friday without a stop in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated negotiations in Doha were ongoing in hopes of reaching a deal that could secure the release of the 58 remaining hostages and end the fighting. Hamas has refused to disarm or leave Gaza.

Since mid-March, Israel has maintained a blockade on imports into Gaza, including food, medicine, and fuel, worsening the humanitarian crisis. The war, which began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 others in southern Israel, has led to over 53,000 Palestinian deaths, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

In northern Gaza, at least 43 people were killed in multiple strikes. Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital reported 15 children and 12 women among the dead. The civil defense reported that entire families, including two parents and their three children, and another father with his four children, were killed in Jabaliya.

The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza shut down amid fighting and what officials described as an Israeli “siege.” It had been the last functioning medical facility in the area after previous hospitals, Kamal Adwan and Beit Hanoun, were rendered inoperative by Israeli attacks. Israel did not comment on the hospital's closure. Human rights organizations and U.N.-backed experts have accused Israel of deliberately targeting Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure.

In central Gaza, 12 people were killed in three separate strikes. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah reported seven killed, including two children and four women, in Zweida town. Another strike in Deir al-Balah killed a couple and their child, while two were killed in Nuseirat camp, Awda Hospital said. Nasser Hospital reported difficulties in identifying and counting the dead due to the condition of the bodies.

Meanwhile, the conflict with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels intensified. The Israeli military intercepted a Houthi missile early Sunday, which triggered air raid sirens across the country. The Houthis claimed responsibility, saying two ballistic missiles, including a hypersonic one, were fired toward Israel’s main airport near Tel Aviv.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree stated that the operation achieved its goal, describing mass panic among Israelis. The attack followed a string of Israeli strikes on Yemen, the eighth since the Gaza war began. Israel was excluded from a U.S.-brokered deal aimed at halting Houthi attacks on American vessels in the Red Sea.