At least 153 Palestinians killed as Israel intensifies airstrikes across Gaza

At least 153 Palestinians were killed in intensified Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, a Health Ministry official said Sunday.

“Relentless Israeli strikes claimed the lives of 153 people across the enclave,” Munir al-Bursh, the director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Anadolu.

He said Israeli warplanes stepped up airstrikes since Sunday dawn, leaving 106 people dead.

“The Israeli army is practicing the most brutal forms of ethnic cleansing and genocide” against Palestinian civilians, he added.

The death toll came as Israeli drones shelled the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

“The (Israeli) occupation is besieging the hospital with drones and shooting at anyone who moves,” hospital director Marwan Sultan said in a statement.

He said one patient was injured by Israeli fire in the hospital’s vicinity.

The Israeli army intensified air assaults on the Gaza Strip in the last five days, coinciding with US President Donald Trump’s Gulf tour that included Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

At least 378 Palestinians were killed and scores injured in the onslaught, according to the Health Ministry.

The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 53,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.