Mohammad Abu Zeid, 12, tastes the food prepared for a meal in his family tent in Muwasi, on the outskirts of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight into Monday killed at least 27 Palestinians, according to local health officials. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has carried out daily strikes on Gaza since ending its ceasefire with Hamas last month. It has cut off the territory’s 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, since the beginning of March in what it says is an attempt to pressure the militant group to release hostages.
The daily bombardment and widespread hunger is taking a heavy toll on Gaza’s most vulnerable residents, including pregnant women and children.
Palestinian envoy tells UN court Israel is killing Gaza civilians
A Palestinian diplomat told the United Nations’ top court on Monday that Israel is killing and displacing civilians and targeting aid workers in Gaza, in a case that Israel criticized as part of its “systematic persecution and delegitimization.”
In The Hague, Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi accused Israel of breaching international law in the occupied territories.
“Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives,” he told the court.
Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its war with Hamas and did not attend the hearing at the International Court of Justice. Israel says the International Court of Justice is biased against it. It says enough aid entered during the ceasefire to sustain the population and accuses Hamas of siphoning it off.
The hearings are focused on a request last year from the U.N. General Assembly, which asked the court to weigh in on Israel’s legal responsibilities after the country blocked the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory.
Humanitarian workers say supplies are running desperately low, with most people eating one meal or less a day. They say the U.N. closely monitors aid distribution and deny any significant diversion.
Strikes hit three homes
An airstrike hit a home in Beit Lahiya, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the ceasefire. His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, which received the bodies.
Another strike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people, including two women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service. Two other people were wounded.
Late Sunday, a strike hit a home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 10 people, including five siblings as young as 4 years old, according to the Health Ministry. Two other children were killed along with their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas. Palestinians say nowhere in blockaded Gaza is safe.
No end in sight to the 18-month-old war
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel’s bombardment and ground operations have destroyed vast areas of Gaza and left most of its population homeless.
The Health Ministry says 2,151 people, including 732 children, have been killed since Israel shattered the truce on March 18.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is either destroyed or agrees to disarm and leave the territory. He says Israel will then implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle much of Gaza’s population in other countries through what the Israeli leader refers to as “voluntary emigration.”
Palestinians say the plan would amount to forcible expulsion from their homeland after Israel’s offensive left much of Gaza uninhabitable. Human rights experts say it would likely violate international law.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire that Israel ended.
Magdy reported from Cairo.
