Gaza: At least 74 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, were killed in a new wave of Israeli air strikes across Gaza on Thursday, deepening an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis as Palestinians marked the 77th anniversary of the Nakba — the mass displacement of their people in 1948.
The deadliest of the recent attacks hit Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, where local health authorities confirmed 57 people were killed in a series of overnight and early morning strikes. Many of the casualties were children, and Nasser Medical Complex was overwhelmed with injured civilians, including entire families.
Among the dead was Palestinian journalist Hassan Samour, who was killed alongside several family members when their home in Bani Suheila was bombed. Days earlier, another journalist, Hassan Aslih, was killed in an Israeli drone strike on Nasser Hospital while receiving treatment for previous injuries. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), more than 170 media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, making it the most dangerous place in the world for journalists.
The strikes come amid 19 months of ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has displaced over two million Palestinians and left tens of thousands dead or wounded. Thursday’s escalation was accompanied by scenes of panic across Gaza City, where residents fled after the Israeli military issued sudden evacuation orders.
As bombs fell on Gaza, Israeli officials also escalated rhetoric toward the occupied West Bank. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — a prominent figure in Israel’s far-right coalition — called for military forces to “flatten” Palestinian towns in the West Bank in the same way as Gaza. His comments followed the killing of an Israeli settler in the Palestinian village of Bruqin.
Israeli forces launched a wave of raids across West Bank cities at dawn, including Tubas, Nablus, Bethlehem, Dura, and several refugee camps like Fawwar, Qalandia, and Askar. Rights groups reported house raids, arrests, and systemic abuse. Palestinians in these areas now fear that the scale of violence seen in Gaza could soon engulf the West Bank as well.
This latest chapter of violence unfolded on Nakba Day — the day Palestinians remember the mass expulsion of over 750,000 people in 1948 during the creation of the state of Israel. More than 530 towns and villages were razed in that period, and the majority of the Palestinian population was either exiled or killed. Today, with both Gaza and the West Bank under intense military pressure, many Palestinians are questioning whether any part of their homeland will remain.
Since Israel’s offensive began in October 2023, nearly 53,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials. Civilian infrastructure — hospitals, homes, schools, and refugee shelters — has been decimated in what human rights organizations are calling a deliberate campaign of annihilation.
International reactions remain polarized. While Qatar condemned the recent attacks as evidence that Israel is uninterested in any ceasefire agreement, global outrage has also grown over the high civilian toll. In the United States, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen was forcibly removed from a Senate hearing after protesting Washington’s support for Israel's military operations in Gaza.
The mounting death toll, combined with targeted attacks on journalists, medical facilities, and residential zones, has led to intensified warnings from rights groups, who say Israel is carrying out a systematic and deliberate campaign to erase Palestinian presence from both Gaza and the West Bank.
The question facing many Palestinians today is no longer whether they will lose more — but whether they will be left with anything at all.
.
