Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 103 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight, according to local health authorities, as Benjamin Netanyahu continues to ramp up attacks on the enclave.
Some 464 Palestinians have died in Israeli military strikes on Gaza in the past week, according to a report published by the territory’s health ministry on Sunday, with 1,418 others wounded between May 11 and May 17.
One of Israel’s overnight strikes hit a tent encampment housing displaced families in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, killing women and children, wounding dozens and setting several tents ablaze. Medical officials said a family in northern Gaza lost at least 20 of its members, and three journalists and their families are also among the dead.
Hamas described the strike as a “new brutal crime” and blamed the US administration for the escalation. Israel has expanded its strikes on the enclave since Thursday, killing hundreds of people in preparation for a new ground offensive to achieve ‘operational control’ in parts of Gaza.
“We have at least 100 martyrs since overnight,” Gaza health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said. “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment.”
Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital said among the dead, 15 were children and 12 were women. Health officials said that fighting around the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and an Israeli military “siege” prompted it to shut down.
The hospital was the main medical facility in the territory’s war-wrecked north, after northern Gaza’s previous main hospital, Kamal Adwan, was forced to stop serving Palestinians last year because of Israeli strikes, as was a second facility, Beit Hanoun Hospital. The Israeli military also had no immediate comment on operations at the hospital or the latest attacks.
Zakaria Al-Sinwar, the brother of former Hamas chief Yehya Al-Sinwar whom Israel killed last October, and three of his children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their tent in central Gaza Strip, medics said. Mr Sinwar was a history lecturer at a Gaza university.
Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March in an attempt to pressure Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages.
It has also approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza strip and controlling aid.
Hamas, for its part, says it will only free the hostages in return for an Israeli ceasefire.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators, backed by the United States, began a new round of indirect ceasefire talks between the two sides on Saturday.
However, sources close to the negotiations said there had been no breakthrough.
A Palestinian official close to the talks, which are taking place in the Qatari capital of Doha, said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”
Britain’s Sky News Arabica and the BBC both reported that the Palestinian militant group had proposed releasing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A Hamas official said: “Israel’s position is unchanged, they want their prisoners released, without a commitment to end the war.”
The Gaza healthcare system is barely operational because of repeated Israeli bombardment and raids on hospitals. The blockade on aid supplies has compounded their difficulties while adding to widespread hunger, for which Israel blames Hamas.
“Hospitals are overwhelmed with the growing number of casualties, many are children, several cases of amputations and the hospitals, which have been hit repeatedly by the occupation, are struggling with shortages of medical supplies,” Mr Deqran said.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said in a statement that it was conducting extensive strikes in areas of Gaza as part of its plan to reach its war objectives.
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the elimination of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas, which attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and seizing about 250 hostages.
The Israeli military campaign has devastated the enclave, pushing nearly all residents from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
It comes as it was reported on Saturday that the Trump administration was in serious talks with the North African country of Libya about rehousing up to one million Palestinians from Gaza.
White House sources told NBC News that the idea had been discussed with Libya’s leadership and is under serious consideration.
In exchange, the Trump administration would release to Libya billions of dollars of funds the US froze more than a decade ago.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the US had discussed with Tripoli the possibility of releasing around $30 billion in funds frozen since the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled by a Nato-backed uprising in 2011. However, this was believed to be in exchange for the US having access to the unfrozen funds themselves to reinvest in Libya, and made no mention of housing displaced Palestinians.
Libya remains a war-torn country battling with the aftermath of the end of Gaddafi’s rule, and is under the control of two separate governments.
A map leaked by diplomats to The Times also reportedly shows Israeli plans for three tightly controlled strips of civilian land in southern, central and northern Gaza, separated by four exclusively military zones.
Under the plans, titled “Stage Three: the complete takeover of Gaza”, Palestinians would be forbidden to move between the strips without permission, potentially separating people from their land and homes, foreign firms briefed on the plans and tasked with distributing humanitarian aid told the outlet.
According to The Times, roads and infrastructure are already being built on the remains of people’s homes, with the clearing of land needed for the new and expanded military zones expected to take at least three weeks.
The Israeli military neither confirmed nor denied the plans, according to the outlet. The Independent has sought further information from Israel.
