GAZA, May 23, 2025 (WAFA) — At least 16 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes across different areas of the Gaza Strip early Friday morning, according to local sources and medical officials.
Ten people were reported killed and several others wounded in over five drone strikes that targeted the entrance to the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Eyewitnesses said that some of the victims were civilians attempting to assist the wounded when they themselves were struck.
In Gaza City, three more people, including a young girl, were killed when an Israeli warplane bombed an apartment near Abdel Aal junction on al-Jalaa Street.
In Khan Younis, two siblings were killed and their father seriously injured when an Israeli strike hit the Abu Akar family home in the western refugee camp area of the city.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces detonated a robot near al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, causing significant damage to hospital infrastructure and igniting a fire in the facility’s medicine storage area. Civil defense teams were prevented by Israeli forces from extinguishing the blaze.
Additional strikes in the town of Abasan al-Jadida, east of Khan Younis, targeted the Dughma family home, resulting in more casualties, though the exact toll remains unconfirmed. Meanwhile, 32-year-old Antar Mahmoud Al-Raqab died from injuries sustained in an earlier Israeli strike on the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.
The escalation followed an earlier deadly airstrike late Thursday night in Jabalia, north of Gaza. Four members of the Dardouna family were killed and many others wounded or reported missing after Israeli aircraft bombed their four-story home, which also housed displaced people.
Rescue teams recovered the bodies of four victims and managed to save six people from the rubble. However, more than 50 individuals remain unaccounted for. Emergency crews warned that a severe lack of heavy equipment has brought search operations to a halt, leaving those trapped beneath the debris without hope of immediate rescue.
The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 2023 has so far resulted in at least 53,762 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 122,197 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.
M.N
