In a harrowing escalation of violence, at least 50 Palestinians, including 22 children and 15 women, lost their lives in a series of Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia area in northern Gaza overnight, according to reports from the Indonesian hospital in the region.
Local residents woke up to scenes of devastation on Wednesday morning as the airstrikes flattened several homes in both Jabalia town and the nearby refugee camp. Heart-wrenching footage shared online revealed bodies lying on the ground, many of them children. The air was filled with smoke, the sounds of sirens, and the cries of those who had lost loved ones.
The Israeli military, while confirming that it is reviewing the incident, had earlier issued a “final warning” to residents of Jabalia and surrounding areas, urging them to evacuate immediately. The warning followed a series of rocket launches from Gaza into Israeli territory, which Israel says prompted the strikes. Three rockets reportedly crossed into Israel, two of which were intercepted.
Among the dead was a two-month-old baby, as described by Hadi Moqbel, a local man who lost several family members in the strike. “We saw body parts on the ground, children killed, a woman killed, and a baby killed,” he told Reuters.
The airstrikes come amid rising international concern. At the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Tuesday, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher accused Israel of deliberately creating inhumane conditions in Gaza. He urged the council to act to prevent a potential genocide and called on Israel to lift its 10-week-long blockade.
Fletcher also criticized an Israeli-US plan to shift humanitarian aid delivery to private contractors, calling it a “fig leaf for further violence and displacement.” In response, Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon dismissed the accusations as “baseless and outrageous,” stating that the current aid system has been exploited by Hamas for military purposes — a claim denied by both the UN and Hamas.
Wednesday’s strikes were not limited to Jabalia. Local officials reported at least 70 casualties across Gaza. A separate airstrike on the European hospital in Khan Younis killed 28 people. Israel claimed that the target was a Hamas command center hidden beneath the hospital and that the operation aimed to neutralize Mohammed Sinwar, believed to be Hamas’s top commander in Gaza after the death of his brother.
As the humanitarian situation deteriorates, the UN reports that 70% of Gaza is now under evacuation orders or classified as “no-go” zones. Severe shortages of food, water, and fuel have forced the closure of all UN-supported bakeries and over 60% of community kitchens.
Meanwhile, hopes for a ceasefire flickered when Hamas released the last living Israeli-American hostage, Edan Alexander, in what it described as a goodwill gesture toward U.S. President Donald Trump during his Middle East visit. Trump expressed optimism that more of the 58 remaining hostages could soon be freed.
Despite these gestures, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that the military operation will intensify. “There will be no situation where we stop the war,” he said. “We are going all the way.”
As of now, the death toll in Gaza stands at over 52,900 since the war reignited, with nearly 2,800 deaths occurring since the ceasefire ended in March.
