Palestinians evacuate patients from the European hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, after it was hit by an Israeli army airstrike, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike targeting what it said was a Hamas “command and control center” located beneath the hospital. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 60 people, including 22 children, Health Ministry says
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) 鈥 At least 22 children were killed in Gaza early Wednesday in a punishing series of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals and health officials.
Palestinians evacuate patients from the European hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, after it was hit by an Israeli army airstrike, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike targeting what it said was a Hamas “command and control center” located beneath the hospital. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
By Wafaa Shurafa And Melanie Lidman The Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) 鈥 At least 22 children were killed in Gaza early Wednesday in a punishing series of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals and health officials.
The strikes killed at least 60 people in total, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported, including 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis. The strikes came a day after Hamas released an Israeli-American hostage in a deal brokered by the United States, and as President Donald Trump was visiting Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was 鈥渘o way鈥 Israel would halt its , dimming hopes for a ceasefire.
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The Israeli military refused to comment on the strikes, but had warned residents of Jabaliya to evacuate late Tuesday night due to Hamas infrastructure in the area, including rocket launchers.
In Jabaliya, rescue workers smashed through collapsed concrete slabs using hand tools in order to remove bodies of some of the children who were killed.
Israel threatens to escalate operations in Gaza
In comments released by Netanyahu鈥檚 office Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza 鈥渨ith great strength to complete the mission. ... It means destroying Hamas.鈥
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in a 2023 intrusion into southern Israel. Israel鈥檚 retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.
Israel鈥檚 offensive has obliterated vast swaths of Gaza鈥檚 urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
The strikes came amidst hopes that could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
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France condemns Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza
International food security experts that the Gaza Strip will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn鈥檛 lift .
French President Emmanuel Macron strongly denounced Netanyahu鈥檚 decision to block aid from entering Gaza as 鈥渁 disgrace鈥 that has caused a major humanitarian crisis.
鈥淚 say it forcefully, what Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 government is doing today is unacceptable,鈥 Macron said Tuesday evening on TF1 national television. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no medicine. We can鈥檛 get the wounded out. Doctors can鈥檛 get in. What he鈥檚 doing is a disgrace. It鈥檚 a disgrace.鈥
Macron, who visited injured Palestinians in El Arish hospital in Egypt last month, called to reopen the Gaza border to humanitarian convoys. 鈥淭hen, yes, we must fight to demilitarize Hamas, free the hostages and build a political solution,鈥 he said.
Nearly half a million Palestinians are , living at 鈥渃atastrophic鈥 levels of hunger, while 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.
Israel has banned all food, shelter, medicine and any other goods from entering the Palestinian territory for the past 10 weeks, even as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations.
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Gaza鈥檚 population of around 2.3 million people relies almost entirely on outside aid to survive, because Israel鈥檚 19-month-old military campaign has wiped away most capacity to produce food inside the territory.
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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris.
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