Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed 82 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 38 who were trying to reach humanitarian aid, the Health Ministry and local hospitals said Thursday.
Israel’s military did not have any immediate comment on the strikes.
Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the newly created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 33 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.
Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead.
The ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children.
The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible cease-fire that would end the 21-month war.
Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day cease-fire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.
But Hamas’ response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.
The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, saying it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas members and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets toward Israel on Wednesday.
The war was triggered by the October 2023 Hamas incursion that caused around 1,200 deaths and took 250 hostages.
Israel's genocidal war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting.
More than 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pushing hundreds of thousands of people toward hunger.
