Israeli airstrikes kill 23 in Gaza as outcry over aid blockade grows

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza, including three children and their parents whose tent was bombed in Gaza City, health officials said.

The bombardment continued as international warnings grow over Israeli plans to control aid distribution in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s blockade on the territory of more than 2 million people is in its third month.

The United Nations and aid groups have rejected Israel’s aid distribution moves, including a plan from a group of U.S. security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Among the 23 bodies brought to hospitals over the last 24 hours were those of the family of five whose tent was struck in Gaza City’s Sabra district, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Another Israeli strike late Friday hit a warehouse belonging to UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, in the northern area of Jabaliya. Four people were killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Associated Press video showed fires burning in the shattered building. The warehouse was empty after being hit and raided multiple times during Israeli ground offensives against Hamas fighters over the last year, residents said.

Israel’s military said nine soldiers were lightly wounded Friday night by an explosive device while searching Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood. It said they were evacuated to a hospital in Israel.

Israel resumed its bombardment in Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Ground troops have seized more than half the territory and have been conducting raids and searching parts of northern Gaza and the southernmost city of Rafah. Large parts of both areas have been flattened by months of Israeli operations.

Under Israel’s blockade, charity kitchens are virtually the only source of food left in Gaza, but dozens have shut down in recent days as food supplies run out. Aid groups say more closures are imminent. Israel has said the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and disarm. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.

Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of siphoning off aid in Gaza, though it hasn’t presented evidence for its claims. The U.N. denies significant diversion takes place, saying it monitors distribution.

The 19-month-old war in Gaza is the most devastating ever fought between Israel and Hamas. It has killed more than 52,800 people there, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 119,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed thousands of militants, without giving evidence.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 others. Hamas still holds about 59 hostages, with about a third believed to still be alive.

Hamas released a video Saturday showing hostages Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana, who appeared under duress. They were abducted during the Oct. 7 attack from a music festival where more than 300 people were killed. Hamas released a video of them a month and half ago and has released several videos of Bohbot alone since then.

Shurafa writes for the Associated Press.