At least 20 Palestinians, including a woman and her six children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to medical sources and eyewitness reports. The latest escalation in violence marks a severe intensification of the ongoing conflict in the region.
Medical staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital confirmed that the woman and her six children were killed during an Israeli airstrike in the city of Deir al-Balah. Several other residents were also injured in the attack, as the strikes targeted multiple areas across Gaza.
In another incident, four more Palestinians were killed, and others were wounded when an Israeli strike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Eyewitnesses reported heavy shelling by Israeli artillery stationed east of the Gaza Strip, which targeted the eastern areas of the Maghazi and Bureij camps, as well as Deir al-Balah.
The violence also extended to Gaza City, where a Palestinian woman was killed, and several others were injured after an Israeli drone struck a house in the Sabra neighborhood. In the southern Gaza Strip, an Israeli drone targeted a house in eastern Khan Younis, killing four Palestinians, including another woman.
Local sources indicated that the Israeli military demolished dozens of residential buildings in Khan Younis and the Saudi neighborhood in western Rafah. Meanwhile, Palestinian Civil Defense teams recovered the bodies of four individuals and several injured persons after Israeli forces targeted homes in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza.
The Israeli offensive, which began following an October 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, has drawn widespread international condemnation. A UN Security Council resolution has called for an immediate ceasefire, but the violence has continued unabated. Local health authorities report that nearly 40,100 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, with over 92,500 injured since the conflict began more than 10 months ago.
Gaza remains devastated by the ongoing conflict, suffering from a crippling blockade that has left residents without access to essential supplies such as food, clean water, and medicine. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has accused Israel of genocide and ordered an immediate halt to its military operations in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge before the city was invaded on May 6.
