Dozens Of Palestinians Died As A Result Of Israeli Attacks On The Gaza Strip

Prayers for the bodies of the latest Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. (Source: WAFA)

JAKARTA - Israeli military attacks killed at least 30 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a senior rescue service official and a journalist, local health authorities said.

The latest deaths in Israel's operations were caused by separate Israeli attacks on Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north, and Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.

In Jabalia, they said local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several family members were killed by airstrikes that hit his home on the previous Sunday.

Another airstrike in Nuseirat killed Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official at the region's civil emergency service, and his wife at their home, medics added.

Gaza's Hamas-run state media office said Abu Warda's death increased the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023 to 220.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the ICRC Red Cross said in a Sunday statement that two of its staff - Ibrahim Eid and Ahmad Abu Hilal - were killed in an attack on a house in Khan Younis on Saturday.

"Their killings show an intolerable number of civilian casualties in Gaza. The ICRC reiterated its urgent call for a ceasefire and to respect and protect civilians, including medical personnel, humanitarian aid, and civil defense," the ICRC statement added.

Separately, the Israeli military said in a statement that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited his forces in Khan Younis on Sunday, informing them that "this is not an endless war" and that Hamas has lost most of its assets, including its command and control.

"We will deploy every tool we have to take the hostages home, disperse Hamas and disperse their power," said Lt. Gen. Zamir.

However, the statement did not discuss Sunday's attack.

In a separate statement, Gaza's media office said Israeli forces controlled 77 percent of the Gaza Strip, either through ground forces or evacuation orders and bombings that kept residents away from their homes.

It is known that the latest conflict in Gaza broke out on October 7, after a Palestinian militant group led by Hamas attacked Israel's southern region, leaving 1,200 people dead and 251 others held hostage according to Israeli calculations.

On January 19, the two countries imposed a ceasefire agreement and exchanged hostages, following a deal reached days earlier between Hamas and Israel through Egyptian, Qatar and US intermediaries.

Israel again carried out a total blockade of all aid on March 2, saying it was carried out to pressure the Hamas group to accept the ceasefire's proposal and release all hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Separately, local health authorities confirmed on Sunday that the death toll from Palestinian attacks since October 2023 had risen to 53,939 fatalities, while injuries reached 122,797, the majority of victims were women and children, quoted from WAFA.

According to the same source, the death toll since Israel restarted genocide on March 18 after a two-month ceasefire had also risen to 3,785, in addition to 10,756 others injured.