"The death toll from Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip since dawn on Thursday has reached 94," Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said in a statement.
Basal explained that among the victims was an entire family in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, "whose names were erased from the civil registry after the martyrdom of the father, mother, and all their children."
Earlier today, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in a statement that 82 martyrs and 152 injured people had arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours. It noted that a number of victims remain under the rubble and debris, as well as in the streets, and that ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them.
The ministry added that the death toll from the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip has risen to 53,010 martyrs, in addition to 119,919 wounded, since October 7, 2023.
She explained that the death toll included 2,876 martyrs and 7,957 wounded since March 18, i.e. since the occupation resumed its aggression on the Gaza Strip following the ceasefire agreement.
Bombing the entire Gaza Strip
Since dawn on Thursday, Israeli warplanes have launched several airstrikes on homes and roads in the Tel al-Zaatar area of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, wounding 18 Palestinians.
The Gaza Strip's Civil Defense announced in a statement that 13 Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli attack targeting a medical clinic and the Al-Tawbah prayer hall in Jabalia camp.
A Palestinian was killed and others were injured in shelling on the town of Khuza'a, east of Khan Yunis, south of Gaza, while three others were killed in artillery shelling targeting the town of Beit Lahia, north of Gaza.
Targeting hospitals
Eyewitnesses reported that the Israeli army bombed the vicinity of the Indonesian and Al-Awda hospitals in Jabalia, causing extensive damage to both hospitals.
For its part, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said in a statement that the ongoing Israeli shelling of the vicinity of the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis "makes it impossible to provide medical care, given the danger it poses to medical staff, the wounded, and the patients."
The ministry explained that the hospital's closure "means cancer patients are deprived of their treatment protocols and their health conditions are further deteriorating," noting that it is the only hospital providing medical follow-up care to cancer patients in the Gaza Strip following the destruction of the Turkish Friendship Hospital.
The statement added that the hospital's closure also led to the disruption of rare specialized services in the Strip, such as neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, cardiac catheterization, cardiovascular surgery, and ophthalmology, which are only available at the Gaza European Hospital.
With the European Gaza Hospital no longer in service, the number of hospitals in Gaza now stands at 19, including eight government hospitals and 11 private ones, out of a total of 38, according to a Ministry of Health official. Nine field hospitals also operate in the Strip, providing emergency services amid the Israeli genocide.
Isolating Gaza from the world
Coinciding with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which falls on May 17 of each year, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Economy said in a joint statement that the Gaza Strip has become isolated from the world due to Israel's destruction of its communications infrastructure.
The statement added: "While the world celebrates the potential of technology to build more inclusive societies, the besieged Gaza Strip faces the most abhorrent forms of digital blackout and isolation, under ongoing Israeli aggression that systematically targets the communications and information technology infrastructure in an attempt to isolate more than two million people from the world."
He continued, "The digital divide in the sector has transformed from a development challenge into a battle for survival, as the internet has become a primary means of communication, seeking help, and telling the truth, in an attempt to save lives amid an ongoing genocidal war."
The statement indicated that the results of the labor force survey, conducted by the Statistics Authority during November and December 2024, recorded a "noticeable decline" in internet usage rates among individuals.
According to the data, approximately 39% of individuals aged 10 and older were unable to use the internet at least once during the three months preceding the interview, while the percentage of users was only approximately 61%, regardless of the quality, frequency, and duration of use.
The Israeli genocide rendered nearly two-thirds of the cellular towers in the Gaza Strip out of service, with approximately 64% of the 841 towers belonging to cellular companies being rendered inoperable.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with full American support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, leaving approximately 173,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.
Israel has been blockading Gaza for 18 years, leaving approximately 1.5 million Palestinians out of a population of 2.4 million homeless after their homes were destroyed in the war of extermination. The Strip is suffering from famine due to Tel Aviv's closure of the crossings to humanitarian aid.
