Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 80 people, including 22 children
- Last updated: May 14, 2025 | 18:25
Gaza's civil defence agency said the number of people killed in Israeli bombardment across the Palestinian territory since dawn on Wednesday had risen to 80, including almost two dozen children.
"The number of martyrs killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip since dawn today has risen to 80, including 59 in the northern Gaza Strip," civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP.
At least 50 people, including 22 children, were killed in strikes around Jabaliya in northern Gaza alone, according to hospitals and Health Ministry.
The strikes came a day after Hamas released an Israeli-American hostage in a deal brokered by the United States, and as President Donald Trump was visiting Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was "no way" Israel would halt its war in Gaza, dimming hopes for a ceasefire.
The Israeli military refused to comment on the strikes, but had warned residents of Jabaliya to evacuate late on Tuesday night due to Hamas infrastructure in the area, including rocket launchers.
In comments released by Netanyahu's office on Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza "with great strength to complete the mission. ... It means destroying Hamas."
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people in a 2023 intrusion into southern Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.
Israel's offensive has obliterated vast swathes of Gaza's urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
Associated Press