Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill at Least 27 Palestinians

Palestinian girls look at the rubble of the Abou Mahadi family destroyed in Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on APril 28, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
Palestinian girls look at the rubble of the Abou Mahadi family destroyed in Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on APril 28, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
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Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill at Least 27 Palestinians

Palestinian girls look at the rubble of the Abou Mahadi family destroyed in Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on APril 28, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
Palestinian girls look at the rubble of the Abou Mahadi family destroyed in Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on APril 28, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight into Monday killed at least 27 Palestinians, according to local health officials. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel has carried out daily strikes on Gaza since ending its ceasefire with Hamas last month. It has cut off the territory's 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, since the beginning of March in what it says is an attempt to pressure the militant group to release hostages.

The daily bombardment and widespread hunger is taking a heavy toll on Gaza's most vulnerable residents, including pregnant women and children. The United Nations' highest court began holding hearings on Monday into Israel's obligation to facilitate humanitarian aid to the territories it occupies.

Israel says the International Court of Justice is biased against it. It says enough aid entered during the ceasefire to sustain the population and accuses Hamas of siphoning it off.

Humanitarian workers say supplies are running desperately low, with most people eating one meal or less a day. They say the UN closely monitors aid distribution and deny any significant diversion.

Strikes hit three homes

An airstrike hit a home in Beit Lahiya, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the ceasefire. His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, which received the bodies.

Another strike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people, including two women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service. Two other people were wounded.

Late Sunday, a strike hit a home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 10 people, including five siblings as young as 4 years old, according to the Health Ministry. Two other children were killed along with their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.

Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas. Palestinians say nowhere in blockaded Gaza is safe.

No end in sight to the 18-month-old war

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel's bombardment and ground operations have destroyed vast areas of Gaza and left most of its population homeless.

The Health Ministry says 2,151 people, including 732 children, have been killed since Israel shattered the truce on March 18.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is either destroyed or agrees to disarm and leave the territory. He says Israel will then implement US President Donald Trump's proposal to resettle much of Gaza's population in other countries through what the Israeli leader refers to as "voluntary emigration."

Palestinians say the plan would amount to forcible expulsion from their homeland after Israel's offensive left much of Gaza uninhabitable. Human rights experts say it would likely violate international law.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire that Israel ended.



WHO Chief Begs Israel to Show 'Mercy' in Gaza

Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his statement, during the opening of the 78th World Health Assembly at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Magali Girardin/Keystone via AP)
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his statement, during the opening of the 78th World Health Assembly at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Magali Girardin/Keystone via AP)
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WHO Chief Begs Israel to Show 'Mercy' in Gaza

Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his statement, during the opening of the 78th World Health Assembly at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Magali Girardin/Keystone via AP)
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his statement, during the opening of the 78th World Health Assembly at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Magali Girardin/Keystone via AP)

Fighting back tears, the head of the World Health Organization on Thursday urged Israel to have "mercy" in the Gaza war and insisted peace would be in Israel's own interests.

In an emotional intervention at the WHO annual assembly, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the war was hurting Israel and would not bring a lasting solution.

"I can feel how people in Gaza would feel at the moment. I can smell it. I can visualize it. I can hear even the sounds. And this is because of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)," said Tedros, 60, who has often recalled his own wartime upbringing in Ethiopia.

"You can imagine how people are suffering. It's really wrong to weaponize food. It's very wrong to weaponize medical supplies."

The United Nations on Thursday began distributing around 90 truckloads of aid which are the first deliveries into Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2.

Tedros said only a political solution could bring a meaningful peace, reported AFP.

"A call for peace is actually in the best interests of Israel itself. I feel that the war is hurting Israel itself and it will not bring a lasting solution," he said.

"I ask if you can have mercy. It's good for you and good for the Palestinians. It's good for humanity."

'Systematic' destruction

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that 2.1 million people in Gaza were "in imminent danger of death".

"We need to end the starvation, we need to release all hostages and we need to resupply and bring the health system back online," he said.

"As an ex-hostage, I can say that all hostages should be released. Their families are suffering. Their families are in pain," he added.

The WHO said Gazans were suffering acute shortages of food, water, medical supplies, fuel and shelter.

Four major hospitals have had to suspend medical services in the past week, due to their proximity to hostilities or evacuation zones, and attacks.

Only 19 of the Gaza Strip's 36 hospitals remain operational, with staff working in "impossible conditions", the UN health agency said in a statement.

"At least 94 percent of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed," it said, while north Gaza "has been stripped of nearly all health care".

It said that across the Palestinian territory, only 2,000 hospital beds remained available -- a figure "grossly insufficient to meet the current needs".

"The destruction is systematic. Hospitals are rehabilitated and resupplied, only to be exposed to hostilities or attacked again. This destructive cycle must end."