GAZA, May 17, 2025 (WAFA) – At least 80 Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded on Saturday as Israeli airstrikes continued to pound the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to medical sources. Among the dead were 34 people in Gaza City and the northern part of the enclave.
In the latest attacks, WAFA correspondents reported that siblings Saleh and Doaa Suleiman Baraka were killed, and others wounded, in two separate airstrikes — one targeting a residential tower in Hamad City, northwest of Khan Younis, and another striking a house in the eastern town of Abasan al-Kabira in southern Gaza.
Earlier in the day, seven civilians were killed in Khan Younis, including three in an Israeli drone attack and two in a strike on a gathering of civilians. Four more civilians were killed when a home in the Tel al-Zaatar neighborhood of Jabalia refugee camp in the north was bombed.
In central Gaza, Israeli forces bombed a humanitarian aid warehouse in Deir al-Balah, killing 10 people, including a 10-day-old infant, Qusai Abu Labda. Several others were injured and transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Medical and local sources report that over the past 48 hours, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed, around 300,000 forcibly displaced from northern Gaza to Gaza City, and approximately 1,000 housing units destroyed or damaged, as part of the ongoing Israeli campaign of mass destruction targeting civilians.
Sources also warned that an estimated 140 bodies remain trapped under the rubble, with rescue efforts hampered by Israeli restrictions preventing emergency teams from accessing the affected areas — a move condemned as a grave violation of international humanitarian law.
By midday Saturday, Israeli forces had dropped leaflets over parts of Gaza, threatening further escalation, including a new ground invasion, as the war enters its 20th month.
The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 2023 has so far resulted in at least 53,272 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 120,673 others injured.
Thousands of victims are feared trapped under rubble, inaccessible to emergency and civil defense teams due to Israeli attacks.
Israel's genocidal attacks continue unabated despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
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