Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, hospitals say as offensives expand

More than 80 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli fire through the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza, local hospitals said.

Women and children were among the few 20 who died when a strike struck a building and tents, sheltering displaced families near the Firas market in the central Daray district of Gaza at night, according to the first respondents.

The Israeli military said they had hit two Hamas fighters and that the number of victims was not filed in line with their own information.

In the meantime, Israeli tanks and troops continued forward in the heart of the city, which says Israel that it is Hamas’s last fortress.

The military said the ground offensive aims to ensure the hostage release, still held by Hamas, and to ensure the “decisive defeat” of the Palestinian armed group.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have so far escaped from the largest city center of Gaza, where hunger was confirmed last month by an un-led body. But hundreds of thousands of more remain there in difficult humanitarian conditions, with health and other basic services collapsing.

In a separate development, the US Special Messenger Steve Vikof said that President Donald Trump had presented a “21-point peace plan in the Middle East and Gaza” to a group of Arabic and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

Vitcof did not give details about the plan, but said he was dealing with “Israeli anxiety as well as the fears of all neighbors in the region.”

“We hope and I could even say confident that in the coming days we will be able to announce some breakthrough,” he added.

Hospitals in Gaza said on Wednesday afternoon that they had received the bodies of over 60 people killed by Israeli strikes and shooting from midnight.

The Hamas Civil Defense Agency said one -third of the victims were the result of an Israeli strike on a storage shelter, displaced people near the Firas Market, and that six women and nine children are among them.

International journalists, including those from the BBC, are blocked by Israel to enter the gas independently, so it is difficult to check the reports.

But video footage from the scene has shown that people are removing a body wrapped in a blanket from the ruins of a destroyed building.

Mohammed Hajaj, whose relatives were among the dead, told AFP news agency that the place was affected by “heavy bombing” while people sleep.

“We came and found children and women torn apart. It was a pathetic view,” he said.

Other photos have shown that humans are enduring up to at least six bodies in white bites and plastic bags laid on the floor outside the Al-Ali Hospital.

One woman, Tala Al Dib, said four of the bodies were her sister’s husband and two children, as well as her sister’s mother -in -law.

When asked to comment, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said “hit two Hamas terrorists.”

“IDF is aware of a claim on victims in the area, but the number of victims is not aligned with information held by IDF,” she added.

Elsewhere in Gaza, witnesses report that they see Israeli tanks in the southwestern part of Tel al-Al-Hava and the northwestern rhyme.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday that Israeli military vehicles were located outside the Al-QDS hospital in Tal Al-Hawa and that its oxygen station was damaged and removed from Israeli shooting.

IDF said on Wednesday that “no direct blow to the hospital was held” and that the circumstances of the incident were considered.

Separately, the IDF released air frames, which is said to show that Hamas fighters from opening fire from the al-Shifa hospital compound in Rimal a few days ago.

Reuters cites Hamas security officer that Crime Bands have opened fire in a hospital outside the Union.

During a visit to the city of Gaza on Wednesday, the head of IDF Gen Eyal Zamir staff said he “worked in the Gaza Strip with a large number of troops, with an emphasis on the striking city of Gaza, to create conditions for the release of hostages and for the decisive defeat of Hamas.”

The general also stated that “the bigger part of the Gaza population has already left the city of Gaza and we are moving them south for their safety.”

“I urge the residents of Gazan: to rise and break away from Hamas – he is responsible for your suffering. War and suffering will end if Hamas releases the hostages and abandon his weapons,” he added.

Hamas’s military wing has warned IDF that expanding its operations in Gaza will threaten 48 remaining hostages, about 20 of which are thought to be alive.

The Israeli media quoted IDF that they said about 700,000 inhabitants had been evacuated to South Gaza so far, as plans for the offensive were announced last month.

However, the UN and its humanitarian partners said they had observed only 339,600 people passing south since Tuesday.

Earlier, they also warned that the Israeli “humanitarian zone” for the displaced in Al Mavasi was already overcrowded and dangerous.

Gaza resident Taer Sakr said she had tried to travel south of the Sheikh Radvan neighborhood on Tuesday with his wife, children and sister.

“The tanks on the coastal road … they found fire on us and my sister was killed,” he told AFP.

He said they are now in the hospital al-Shifa and “they will not leave, even if we are all killed.”

On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Service determined the IDF tactics in Gaza, saying that there was a sharp increase in the number of civilians killed in Israeli attacks and that the direction of civil infrastructure and the destruction of homes “makes the likelihood of the displacement being permanent”.

He also criticized the Israeli authorities, including the Minister of Defense Israel Katz, that he threatened to destroy the city of Gaza if Hamas did not comply with Israel’s demands.

“Such tactics and statements seem to be intended to inflict terror and fear among civilians and to force them to leave the Northern Gas,” warned this.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were hostage.

At least 65 419 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry in the territory.