Gaza Rescuers Report 11 Killed, Including Children, in Israeli Air Strikes

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, 16 April 2025 (BSS/AFP) – Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency has confirmed that at least 11 people, including women and children, were killed in Israeli air strikes early on Wednesday morning.

The air strikes mark the continuation of Israel’s aerial and ground offensive in Gaza, which resumed on 18 March, ending a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted hostilities in the region.

One of the deadliest strikes occurred in the early hours in Gaza City, where a pre-dawn air raid targeted the home of the Hassouna family in the Al-Tuffa neighbourhood. Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defence Agency, reported that the attack killed 10 people, including several women and children, and injured others. The victims were swiftly transferred to Al-Shifa hospital.

“We have brought 10 martyrs and several injured individuals to the hospital after the Hassouna family’s home was struck,” Bassal stated.

In a separate incident in the southern city of Khan Yunis, a child was also killed, according to rescue teams.

The escalation comes amid a continued Israeli military operation in Gaza, with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asserting that intense military pressure is the only means of securing the release of hostages held by Hamas.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reaffirmed Israel’s stance, stating that the nation would persist in its campaign to “relentlessly strike Hamas terrorists and their terror infrastructure” in Gaza. He added, “If Hamas continues to refuse to release hostages, operations will intensify and progress to the next stage,” without specifying the nature of the next phase.

Additionally, the Israeli military reported the recent death of Mahmud Ibrahim Abu Hisirah, a militant involved in the deadly 2014 attack that resulted in the deaths of five Israeli soldiers. Hisirah, who had worked closely with senior Hamas militant Ezzedine Haddad, was killed during a targeted operation.

Since the resumption of hostilities in March, at least 1,630 people have died in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The violence in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, the majority of whom were civilians. Since then, Israel’s military actions have claimed the lives of at least 51,000 people in Gaza, the vast majority of whom were also civilians, the Health Ministry reported.