KHAN YOUNIS — Palestinian casualties from Israeli airstrikes were brought to Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, as explosions echoed across the city and plumes of smoke rose above makeshift tent encampments.
The strikes come amid what the Israeli military described as “extensive ground operations” in both the northern and southern regions of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government said Sunday it would allow limited deliveries of food into the enclave, easing a blockade that has drawn growing international criticism.
The announcement followed weeks of mounting pressure over Israel’s near-total aid cutoff, imposed in March, which humanitarian agencies have warned could lead to famine. According to Palestinian health officials, hundreds of people have been killed in Gaza over the past week alone.
The Israeli campaign began after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas fighters on southern Israeli communities, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli government figures.
Since then, Israel’s military operations have devastated the coastal enclave, displacing nearly all of Gaza’s more than two million residents and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza. The figures could not be independently verified.
In recent weeks, Israel has intensified its efforts to force Hamas to release the remaining hostages, including by blocking the entry of medical supplies, food, and fuel. Aid organizations and United Nations officials have warned that the sweeping restrictions violate international humanitarian law and are exacerbating the already dire conditions on the ground.
Israeli officials have also discussed long-term plans that could include seizing control of the entire Gaza Strip and taking over the management of humanitarian aid, raising alarm among diplomats and rights groups.
The fighting has triggered a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, with limited access to clean water, collapsing medical infrastructure, and soaring levels of hunger and displacement across the enclave.
