The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has announced a new surge in casualties over the past 24 hours, as Israeli occupation forces intensified their bombardment of the besieged enclave.

According to the ministry, 39 Palestinians were martyred — including two bodies recovered from beneath the rubble — while an additional 62 were wounded in the latest wave of Israeli attacks.

This brings the total death toll in Gaza to 51,240 martyrs and 116,931 wounded since the Israeli aggression began on October 7, 2023. Since March 18, 2025 alone, the number of Palestinians killed has reached 1,864, with 4,890 injured.

At least eight civilians were killed earlier today in a series of Israeli air raids across the Strip. In one incident, Israeli warplanes struck a tent sheltering civilians in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, killing a man and his wife and wounding others.

In another deadly assault, five civilians lost their lives when an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building in the al-Zanna neighborhood of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis. A sixth victim succumbed to injuries sustained in an earlier Israeli strike that hit a vegetable stall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

Meanwhile, ground operations and air assaults continued across multiple areas. In Gaza City, Israeli occupation forces demolished several homes in the eastern al-Tuffah neighborhood, while heavy shelling was reported in the southeastern al-Zaytoun area. Occupation drones and quadcopters also opened fire in Shujaiya and al-Tuffah, adding to the mounting destruction.

In the northwestern part of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, Israeli forces were reported to have fired live rounds at residential areas, further endangering the already vulnerable civilian population.

The sustained Israeli offensive has plunged Gaza into one of the gravest humanitarian crises in modern history. Amid the relentless bombings, shortages of food, medicine, and clean water persist, as hundreds of thousands remain displaced and besieged, with no safe refuge in sight. (ILKHA)