DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (news agencies) — Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 92 people, including women, children and two journalists, officials said Wednesday, as Israel prepares to ramp up its campaign in the strip, with the devastating war now entering its 20th month.
Two Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday targeted an area in central Gaza, killing at least 33 people and wounding 86, including several children, though the actual death toll is likely higher, according to health officials.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
This came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there is “doubt” about the survival of three hostages previously believed alive in Gaza. The statement was a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said only 21 of 24 hostages believed alive had survived.
The news sent families of remaining captives in Gaza into panic.
The new bloodshed Wednesday comes days after Israel approved a plan to intensify its operations in the Palestinian enclave, which would include seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies.
Israel is also calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to carry out the plan. Israel says the plan will be gradual and will not be implemented until after Trump wraps up his visit to the region later this month.
Any escalation of fighting would likely drive up the death toll. And with Israel already controlling some 50% of Gaza, increasing its hold on the territory, for an indefinite amount of time, could open up the potential for a military occupation, which would raise questions about how Israel plans to have the territory governed, especially at a time when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over Gaza.
The Israeli offensive has so far killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Israel blames Hamas for the death toll, saying it operates from civilian infrastructure, including schools.
Wednesday’s strikes included two attacks on a crowded market area in Gaza City, health officials said.
Footage posted online reportedly showed the aftermath with men found dead, including one still seated in a chair inside a Thai restaurant used by locals as a gathering spot, and several children lying motionless on the ground, covered in blood.
Journalist Yahya Sobeih, who freelanced for several local outlets, was among those killed, according to Gaza’s media office. He had recently shared a photo on Instagram of his newborn daughter.
Victims of the blasts, some with severe injuries, were taken to nearby Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza health ministry spokesperson Zaher al-Wahidi told media.
Another local journalist, Nour Abdu, was killed while covering an attack early Wednesday morning at a school turned shelter in Gaza City, the media office said. That strike killed 16 people, according to officials at Al-Ahli Hospital, while strikes in other areas killed at least 16 others.
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