At least 16 people were killed across Gaza on Monday as Israeli airstrikes continued to pound the besieged Palestinian territory, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. The region has now been under an Israeli aid blockade for more than 50 days.
Israel relaunched its military offensive on March 18, following the collapse of a ceasefire that had largely held for two months. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas broke down, reigniting a conflict that originally erupted after Hamas’s deadly assault in October 2023.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that eight members of the Abu Mahadi family were killed when their home in Jabalia, northern Gaza, was struck while they slept.
“They were asleep, feeling safe, when missiles hit… the sight makes the body shiver,” said 67-year-old Abdul Majeed Abu Mahadi, who lost his brother in the attack. “Children, women, elderly — cut into pieces. It breaks the heart, but what can we do?”
Elsewhere, five members of the Al-Agha family were killed in an airstrike on their home in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. Two more people died when a tent sheltering displaced families was struck in the Al-Shafii camp west of Khan Yunis. Another individual was killed near the Abu Mazen roundabout west of Gaza City, the agency added.
The Israeli military has not yet issued a statement regarding Monday’s strikes.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, at least 2,222 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, raising the total number of deaths in Gaza since the start of the war to 52,314.
The conflict began when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,218 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. Of those taken, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza, with the Israeli military stating that 34 are believed to be dead.
Israel has said its current military operations aim to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
