Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 44 people on Tuesday, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. The casualties include mostly women and children, with dozens more wounded in the ongoing military offensive, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told Journalists.
Bassal detailed the fatalities: eight people died in a strike on a school sheltering displaced persons in Gaza City, 12 were killed in a house strike in Deir el-Balah, 15 died at a gas station near Nuseirat refugee camp, and nine were killed in a strike on a home in Jabalia refugee camp.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on these specific strikes. Since Saturday, Israel has intensified its ground and air operations in Gaza, aiming to defeat Hamas, the Islamist group governing the territory.
The conflict escalated after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians. Hamas also took 251 hostages; 57 remain in Gaza, with 34 reported dead by the Israeli military.
Gaza’s health ministry reported that since March 18, when Israel resumed strikes, at least 3,340 Palestinians have been killed, bringing the total death toll to 53,486 since the conflict began.