Friday, 25 April 2025
Friday, 25 April 2025
Israel has resumed bombing and ground operations in the Gaza Strip as it presses the Palestinian militant group Hamas to free remaining Israeli hostages. The airstrikes and ground operations have killed at least 130 Palestinians and wounded 263 in just 48 hours, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Among the latest targets was the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the only facility in the area that specialized in cancer treatment.
The destruction of the hospital, located in the strategic Netzarim Corridor, has drawn international condemnation.
Israel claims the facility was used as a Hamas operational site. Turkey, which helped fund and build the hospital, has accused Israeli forces of deliberately dismantling Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure.
The Israeli military said it struck the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was inaccessible to doctors and patients during the war, because Hamas militants were operating in the site.
Dr. Zaki Al-Zaqzouq, head of the hospital's oncology department, said, “I cannot fathom what could be gained from bombing a hospital that served as a lifeline for so many patients".
Israel warns it will escalate military operations Israel's renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip threatens to be even deadlier and more destructive than the last, as it pursues wider aims with far fewer constraints.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said Friday that his country would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity" until Hamas frees the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive.
“The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the kidnapped, the more territory it will lose to Israel,” Katz said.
The Israeli military said Friday its forces were planning fresh assaults into three neighbourhoods west of Gaza City, and issued warnings on social media for Palestinians to evacuate the areas.
The attack by Hamas-led militants on October 7, 2023, killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.
Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians, aiming to pressure Hamas over the ceasefire negotiations.
