Published: 10:54, May 26, 2025 | Updated: 13:27, May 26, 2025
34 killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, says civil defense
By Xinhua

GAZA - At least 34 Palestinians, including a journalist and an official of the Civil Defense in Gaza, were killed on Sunday in Israeli attacks across Gaza, said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense.

Ten people, including journalist Hassan Abu Warda, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on homes and gatherings in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, and 14 people were killed in Israeli attacks on homes, a gathering, and a motorcycle in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Basal told Xinhua.

In central Gaza, five people were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent housing displaced people in the city of Deir al-Balah. Ashraf Abu Nar, director of operations at the Civil Defense, and his wife were killed in an Israeli bombing at his home. And a pregnant woman was killed in an Israeli attack on a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Basal said.

One person was killed by Israeli drones targeting a gathering of Palestinians in the al-Karama neighborhood, north of Gaza City, and another was killed in an Israeli attack on a vehicle in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, west of the city, Basal said.

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The International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday that two of its Palestinian staff members were killed in Israeli attacks on their homes in Khan Younis on Saturday.

Also on Sunday, Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its members carried out a complex operation targeting an army force that had taken refuge inside a house east of the town of Al-Qarara, east of Khan Younis.

Palestinians transport their belongings as they flee the northern Gaza Strip toward the south, along the coastal al-Rashid road on May 25, 2025.

The Israeli army said in a statement that a tank commander from its 52nd Battalion was seriously wounded during a clash with Hamas in northern Gaza.

Israel halted the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza on March 2, following the expiration of the first phase of a January ceasefire agreement with Hamas. It resumed attacks on Gaza on March 18, which have so far killed 3,785 people and injured 10,756, Gaza-based health authorities said Sunday.

According to a statement issued Sunday by the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, the number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023 has risen to 220. 

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Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned Israel's limiting of aid to Gaza as "unacceptable".

Albanese on Monday described the blockade of food and supplies to people "who are in need" in Gaza as "outrageous" and said that he has indicated Australia's position directly to the Israeli government.

Palestinian children eat a hot meal at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 24, 2025. (PHOTO / AFP)

"We find Israel's excuses and explanations completely untenable and without credibility," he told reporters in Canberra.

"People are starving. The idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage. That is my clear position."

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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, earlier in May, joined counterparts from 22 other countries, including Germany, France and Britain, in calling for Israel to allow an immediate full resumption of aid into Gaza and enable United Nations organizations to save lives and reduce suffering.

The Australian branch of international charity Oxfam on Monday published the results of a poll that found 82 percent of Australians believe Israel's deliberate blocking of aid into Gaza "cannot be justified".