Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday killed at least 74 people, Hamas-run authorities said, as US President Donald Trump wrapped up a Middle East visit that skipped Israel and offered little prospect for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Strikes overnight into Friday morning hit the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and the city of Khan Younis, and sent people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya.
The death toll figure, which is not independently verified, does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
The Saudi Al-Hadath news channel reported that Israeli tanks advanced in the area of Beit Lahiya.
The IDF said Friday afternoon that it had carried out airstrikes on over 150 “terror targets” in the Gaza Strip over the past day.
The targets included anti-tank missile launch posts, cells of operatives, and buildings used by terror groups to carry out attacks on forces, the army said.
Amid ground operations, the IDF said the 252nd Division killed several operatives who were at an observation post in northern Gaza; the Gaza Division destroyed several tunnel shafts and other infrastructure and killed several operatives in Rafah; and the 36th Division destroyed additional Hamas infrastructure and killed operatives trying to plant a bomb in the Morag Corridor area.
The strikes, which could at times be heard as far away as central Israel, sparked panic in northern Gaza.
“We were asleep when suddenly everything exploded around us,” north Gaza resident Umm Mohammed al-Tatari, 57, told AFP.
“Everyone started running. We saw the destruction with our own eyes. There was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses. We didn’t know who was dead and who was still alive.”
Another resident, 33-year-old Ahmed Nasr, said the bombing continued through the night.
“We couldn’t sleep or find any peace. There is no safety. We could die at any moment,” he said. The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.
The widespread strikes came as Trump finished his visit to Gulf states — there had been some hope that his regional trip could usher in a deal or expedite the renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Israel cut off aid to Gaza on March 2, a tactic it has said is intended to force concessions from the terror group Hamas, which is still holding 58 hostages.
Speaking with reporters in Abu Dhabi, the US president briefly touched on Gaza and the humanitarian situation there.
“And Gaza. Gotta get that taken care of, a lot of people are starving, a lot of bad things going on,” Trump said. He gave no further details as to what he was referring to.
Israel has argued that sufficient humanitarian assistance entered the Strip during a six-week ceasefire and that Hamas has been stealing much of that aid.
In recent weeks, though, officials in the Israel Defense Forces have begun warning the political echelon that the enclave is on the brink of starvation.
On Friday, families of the hostages said they woke up with “heavy hearts” to reports of increased strikes in Gaza and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “join hands” with Trump’s efforts to release the hostages.
“Missing this historic opportunity for a deal to bring the hostages home would be a resounding failure that will be remembered in infamy forever,” the families said in a statement released by the hostage forum.
A senior Israeli defense official said last week that the IDF will launch a major offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip if no hostage deal is reached with the terror group by the end of Trump’s visit to the region.
However, Arab mediators hope that the US will convince Israel to at least hold off on the operation for several more days, as they wait to determine the results of a Tuesday IDF strike targeting Hamas’s Gaza leader, Muhammad Sinwar.
Hamas has insisted on an up-front Israeli commitment to end the war before it releases additional hostages. It also issued a statement on Thursday, warning of harm to the talks if Israel doesn’t end its nearly two-and-a-half-month-long blockade on aid entering Gaza. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing much of the aid that was previously brought in.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to commit to ending the war, saying Hamas must be destroyed, and has insisted on only agreeing to a temporary ceasefire of roughly 45 days, which would begin with Hamas releasing about 10 hostages.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 58 hostages, including 57 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.
They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 21 are believed to be alive. There are grave concerns for the well-being of three others, Israeli officials have said.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel’s death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 418.
Emanuel Fabian and Jacob Magid contributed to this report.