By Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of Palestinians including thirteen children from a single extended family in southern Gaza Friday, while Israeli forces raided one of northern Gaza’s few remaining functional hospitals, marking another day of mounting civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict.
The strikes hit residential areas in Khan Younis without warning, according to Palestinian officials, devastating the al-Farra family. Footage from Palestinian Civil Defense showed rescuers pulling bloodied bodies of children from the rubble. Hospital records confirmed multiple members of the al-Farra and Abdeen families among the dead.
“I started screaming and screaming until my brother and father came, and they started trying to pull me out,” said Saleh al-Farra, who lost his teenage brother and sister in the attack. “I didn’t know anything about anyone.”
In northern Gaza, Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of only three partially functioning medical facilities in the region. Hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya reported catastrophic conditions before communications were cut: “Patients are still lying on the floors of the reception and emergency areas, with many in critical condition. There are no resources, supplies, or specialists to save these children’s lives.”
The Gaza Health Ministry reported children on life support died after the hospital’s generator failed and Israeli fire hit oxygen tanks. The facility housed hundreds of patients, medical staff, and displaced persons. While Israel says its operations target militant infrastructure, the World Health Organization expressed alarm at losing contact with hospital staff who had been delivering supplies and transferring patients.
Among the day’s casualties were children from multiple families, humanitarian workers including Doctors Without Borders staff member Hassan Sobh, a father of seven, and three journalists killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon. The Israeli military contested Palestinian casualty figures but provided no alternative numbers.
Since the Hamas-led October attack that killed hundreds of Israelis and took others hostage, Israel’s offensive has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, with women and children comprising more than half the deaths.
The U.N. human rights chief warned that Israeli military actions risk “emptying the area of all Palestinians,” as hundreds of thousands remain trapped with minimal food and supplies in northern Gaza. Israel announced additional soldier deaths, as military casualties continue to mount since the ground invasion began.
