JERUSALEM/CAIRO, May 17 – Israel’s airforce killed at least 146 Palestinians in new attacks on Gaza over the past 24 hours and injured many more, local health authorities said on Saturday, as the country appeared set to press ahead with a new ground offensive.
Israeli strikes since Thursday have seen one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since a truce collapsed in March. The latest strikes came as U.S. President Donald Trump ended his Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire.
“Since midnight, we have received 58 martyrs, while a large number of victims remain under the rubble. The situation inside the hospital is catastrophic,” said the director of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, Marwan Al-Sultan.
Local health authorities said 459 people had been injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.
Israel’s military said on Saturday it was conducting extensive strikes and mobilizing troops as part of preparations to expand operations in the Gaza Strip and achieve “operational control” in areas of the Palestinian enclave.
The Gaza health system is barely operational with hospitals hit repeatedly by the Israeli military during the 19-month war and medical supplies drying up as Israel tightened its blockade since March.
The escalation, which includes the build-up of armoured forces along the border, is part of the initial stages of ‘Operation Gideon’s Wagons’, which Israel says is aimed at defeating Hamas and getting its hostages back.
An Israeli defence official said earlier this month the operation would not be launched before Trump concluded his visit to the Middle East.
“We are gradually increasing forces; Hamas remains defiant,” the military said on Saturday.
United Nations experts warn that famine looms in Gaza after Israel blocked aid deliveries to the strip 76 days ago, with UN aid chief Tom Fletcher asking the Security Council this week if it would act to “prevent genocide”.
Trump on Friday acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries, as international pressure grows on Israel to resume ceasefire talks and end its blockade of Gaza.
A U.S.-backed foundation aims to start distributing aid to Gazans by the end of May, using private U.S. security and logistics firms, but the U.N. has said it won’t work with the foundation because it is not impartial, neutral or independent.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 5 that Israel was planning an expanded, intensive offensive against Hamas as his security cabinet approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
On Friday Israel’s military ordered Gazans to move south after heavy strikes in the northern town of Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp. Residents, however, said tanks were advancing towards the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the elimination of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas, which attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and seizing about 250 hostages.
Its military campaign has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, pushing nearly all its 2 million inhabitants from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
NBC News reported on Friday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter, that the Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.
Palestinians, including Hamas, and the rival authority of President Mahmoud Abbas reject any displacement of people outside their land.
REUTERS
