No signs of ceasing, Israeli airstrikes kill 25 more, toll shoots to 50,208

Gaza City: At least 25 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll from Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023 to 50,208, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

A ministry statement said that 82 more injured people were also transferred to hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the number of injuries to 113,910 in the Israeli onslaught.

“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing 855 people and injuring nearly 1,900 others despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.Trump has cited India and Brazil in his executive order to overhaul the American election system, saying the two countries are linking voter identification to a biometric database while the US relies on self-attestation for citizenship.

Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed one of its official spokesmen in Gaza on Thursday, the latest high-ranking operative targeted since Israel resumed its bombardment.

The group said in a statement it mourned the loss of Abdul Latif al-Qanou who was killed in what it called a “direct” strike on a tent he was in, in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

A fragile ceasefire that brought weeks of relative calm to Gaza ended on March 18 with Israel resuming its bombing campaign across the territory.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 855 people have been killed since. Qanou is the latest Hamas official to be killed in recent Israeli strikes.

Israel’s military said last week it had killed the head of Hamas’s internal security agency, Rashid Jahjouh, in an air strike.

Days earlier, Hamas had named the head of its government in the Gaza Strip, Essam al-Dalis, and interior ministry head Mahmud Abu Watfa, among a list of officials it said were killed in strikes.

The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Dalis, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who became the head of its administration in Gaza in June 2021. Hamas has also confirmed the deaths of Salah al-Bardawil and Yasser Harb, both members of its political bureau.

“The occupation’s targeting of the movement’s leaders and spokespersons will not break our will,” Hamas said

on Thursday.