Israel Launches Another Airstrike on Gaza Strip... At Least 25 Killed

Drone Strike in Southern Lebanon
Senior Commander of Islamic Group Killed

Israel carried out airstrikes on homes and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 25 people.

According to major foreign media outlets such as AFP on April 22 (local time), Gaza's civil defense reported that since dawn, an airstrike on a house in central Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed nine people. Another nine people were killed in an airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Five people were killed in an airstrike on the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, and two more died in an airstrike in Rafah in the south.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the civil defense, stated that more than 10 homes were destroyed in the strikes, and reconstruction equipment such as a bulldozer and other machinery owned by the Jabalia local government was also damaged.

The Israeli military resumed airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, last month. Since then, Israeli ground forces have also been deployed to intensify efforts to eliminate Hamas. The Israeli military claimed that it targeted only Hamas militants, and argued that civilian casualties were the result of Hamas operating in densely populated areas.

According to the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, at least 1,846 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed large-scale attacks on March 18. Since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, the death toll has reached at least 51,240.

Israel has also blocked the entry of humanitarian aid, including food and fuel, into the Gaza Strip for more than 50 days since March 1, when the 42-day ceasefire agreed with Hamas earlier this year ended.

Meanwhile, on the same day, a senior commander of the Islamic militant group Jamaa Islamiya was killed in an Israeli drone strike near the coastal village of Damour, about 20 kilometers south of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Jamaa Islamiya is reported to have close ties not only with Hamas but also with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.

On January 17th (local time), smoke is rising in the Gaza Strip beyond the barrier as a result of Israeli military shelling, viewed from southern Israel. Photo by Yonhap News