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Israeli Strikes Kill 23 in Gaza, Military Expands Evacuation Orders

A man searches for salvageable items amid the rubble of a house hit by Israeli bombardment at the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on March 25, 2025. (AFP)
A man searches for salvageable items amid the rubble of a house hit by Israeli bombardment at the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on March 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 23 in Gaza, Military Expands Evacuation Orders

A man searches for salvageable items amid the rubble of a house hit by Israeli bombardment at the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on March 25, 2025. (AFP)
A man searches for salvageable items amid the rubble of a house hit by Israeli bombardment at the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on March 25, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 23 Palestinians on Tuesday, local health officials said, as the Israeli military expanded evacuation orders to tens of thousands of residents across the enclave.

The Israeli military resumed its campaign against Hamas in Gaza a week ago, shattering a two-month ceasefire. Since then, nearly 700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, Palestinian health officials say.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million population has already been displaced by the fighting multiple times during nearly 18 months of war and is facing worsening shortages of food and water after Israel suspended aid deliveries earlier this month.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army told residents in all northern border towns to evacuate, saying Palestinian rockets had been fired at Israel from the area.

The affected towns include Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Shejaia in Gaza City. Orders were also issued for areas in Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.

"For your safety, you must move immediately south to known shelters," the military said in its orders to residents in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's historic refugee camps.

Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the renewed offensive aimed to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining 59 hostages it is holding in Gaza. About 24 of them are believed to be still alive.

Hamas, which accuses Israel of abandoning the January 19 ceasefire deal, said it was cooperating with a new effort, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to restore calm and conclude the three-phase ceasefire agreement.

According to some Hamas sources, there has been no breakthrough.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry.

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Libya Fighting Eases after Announcement of Truce

Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
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Libya Fighting Eases after Announcement of Truce

Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)

The worst fighting in Libya's capital for years calmed on Wednesday after the Government of National Unity (GNU) announced a ceasefire, Tripoli residents said, while there was no immediate statement from authorities on how many people had been killed.

Clashes broke out late on Monday after the killing of a major militia leader. After calming on Tuesday morning, the fighting reignited overnight, with major battles rocking districts across the entire city.

"Regular forces, in coordination with the relevant security authorities, have begun taking the necessary measures to ensure calm, including the deployment of neutral units," the defense ministry said.

The ministry said the neutral units it was deploying around sensitive sites were from the police force, which does not carry heavy weapons.

After the fighting, burned-out cars littered the streets in some areas, and nearby buildings were pocked with bullet marks.

Monday's clashes had appeared to consolidate the power of Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, head of the divided country's GNU.

However, any prolonged fighting within Tripoli risks drawing in factions from outside the capital, potentially leading to a wider escalation between Libya's many armed players after years of relative calm.

The main fighting on Wednesday was between the Dbeibah-aligned 444 Brigade and the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), the last major armed Tripoli faction not currently in his camp, the English-language Libyan Observer reported.

Fighting also erupted in western areas of Tripoli that have historically been a gateway for armed factions from Zawiya, a town to the west of the capital.

Dbeibah on Tuesday ordered the dismantling of what he called irregular armed groups.

That announcement followed Monday's killing of major militia chief Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilization Support Apparatus (SSA) group by factions aligned with Dbeibah.

The seizure of SSA territory in Libya by the Dbeibah-allied factions, the 444 and 111 Brigades, indicated a major concentration of power in the fragmented capital, leaving Rada as the last big faction not closely tied to the prime minister.

'TERRIFYING'

Tripoli residents trapped in their homes by the fighting voiced horror at the sudden eruption of violence, which had followed weeks of growing tensions among armed factions.

"It's terrifying to witness all this intense fighting. I had my family in one room to avoid random shelling," said a father of three in the Dahra area by phone.

In the western suburb of Saraj, Mohanad Juma said fighting would pause for a few minutes before resuming. "Each time it stops we feel relieved. But then we lose hope again," he said.

The United Nations Libya mission UNSMIL said it was "deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in densely populated neighborhoods of Tripoli" and called for a ceasefire.

Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi. The country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.

While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA), control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.