Gaza: 19 Killed in Israeli Strikes Since Monday Night

Gaza: The Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip announced on Tuesday the deaths of 19 people in Israeli strikes that targeted various areas of the Palestinian enclave since Monday night.

Mahmoud Bassal, the spokesperson for the rescue service, told Agence France-Presse that nine people, including five children, were killed before midnight in a strike that hit a house in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. He added that at dawn on Tuesday, ten more people were killed in two separate strikes, one in Gaza City and the other in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

A media outlet close to the Islamic Jihad movement also announced on Tuesday morning the death of one of its journalists, Ahmad Mansour, in an Israeli strike on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, which occurred the previous day.

The “Palestine Today” news agency, affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic movement allied with Hamas and considered a terrorist organization by many countries, stated that “the journalist Ahmad Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today Agency, was martyred as a result of shelling by the occupation (Israel).”

Bassal had reported on Monday that an Israeli strike targeted a tent used by journalists near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Images circulated on social media showing people trapped inside a burning tent, purported to be footage from the strike site.

The Hamas government’s press office confirmed the death of at least one other journalist, Hilmi al-Faqaawi, in this strike.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the Israeli strike on “a tent clearly housing news professionals near Nasser Hospital,” adding in a statement released on Monday: “The endless slaughter of journalism in Gaza must stop!”

For its part, the Israeli army announced that it had “targeted a terrorist who participated in the massacre of October 7th,” identifying him as Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih, who was “operating under the guise of a journalist and heading a press company.”

Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18, after a two-month truce, stating that it aims to compel Hamas to return the hostages it still holds.

The attack by the Islamic movement on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,400 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians. In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive that has killed at least 50,752 people in Gaza, the majority of whom are civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, which the United Nations considers reliable. According to the same ministry, approximately 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the collapse of the truce.