Israeli strikes killed at least 34 people in Gaza City overnight, including children, said health officials on Sunday (September 21, 2025), as Israel presses ahead with its offensive in the famine-stricken city and several countries prepare to recognise a Palestinian state.

Health officials at Shifa Hospital, where most of the bodies were brought, said the dead included 14 people killed in a late-night strike on Saturday (September 20, 2025), which hit a residential block in the southern side of the city. Health staff said a nurse who worked at the hospital was among the dead, along with his wife and three children.

Israel did not comment on the strikes.

The latest Israeli operation, which began this week, further escalates a conflict that has roiled the West Asia and likely pushes any ceasefire further out of reach. The Israeli military, which has told Palestinians to leave, hasn’t given a timeline for the offensive, but there were indications it could take months. Israel says the operation is meant to pressure Hamas into freeing hostages and surrendering.

Saturday night’s strikes come as some prominent Western countries prepare to recognise Palestinian statehood at the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday. They include the UK, France, Canada, Australia, Malta, Belgium and Luxembourg. Portugal’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said it will recognise a Palestinian state on Sunday.

Ahead of the U.N. assembly, peace activists in Israel have hailed the planned recognition of a Palestinian state. On Sunday, a group of more than 60 Jewish and Arab organisations representing about 1,000 activists, including some veteran organisations promoting peace and coexistence, known as It’s Time Coalition, called for an end to the war, the release of the hostages and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

“We refuse to live forever by the sword. The UN decision offers a historic opportunity to move from a death trap to life, from an endless messianic war to a future of security and freedom for both peoples,” said the coalition in a video statement.

On Saturday night, tens of thousands of people in Israel protested, calling for an end to the war and a hostage deal.

Yet a ceasefire remains elusive. Israeli bombardment over the past 23 months has killed more than 65,000 people in Gaza, destroyed vast areas of the strip, displaced around 90 per cent of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

In a statement on Sunday, the military stated it killed Majed Abu Selmiya, who it said was a sniper for Hamas’ military wing and was preparing to carry out more attacks in the Gaza City area, without providing evidence.

Majed was the brother of the director of Shifa hospital, Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiya, who called the allegations a lie and said Israel was trying to justify the killing of civilians. Dr Selmiya told The Associated Press that his brother, 57, suffered from hypertension, diabetes and had vision problems.

As the attacks continue, Israel has ordered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City to move south to what it calls a humanitarian zone and opened another corridor south of the city for two days this week to allow more people to evacuate.

Palestinians were streaming out of Gaza City by car and on foot, though many are unwilling to be uprooted again, too weak to leave or unable to afford the cost of moving.

Along the coastal Wadi Gaza route, those too exhausted to continue stopped to catch their breath and give their children a much-needed break from the difficult journey.

Aid groups have warned that forcing thousands of people to evacuate will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis. They are appealing for a ceasefire so aid can reach those who need it.

Pope Leo XIV blasted what he called the “forced exile” of Palestinians from their homes in Gaza, saying there was no future for the “martyred” Gaza Strip based on violence and vendetta.

During his Sunday noon blessing, Pope Leo issued another appeal for peace and expressed appreciation for the work of Catholic organisations active in helping Palestinians, which had representatives present in St. Peter’s Square.

Families of hostages still held by Hamas have accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of condemning their loved ones to death by continuing to fight rather than negotiating an end to the war.

Published – September 21, 2025 06:14 pm IST

When Israel launched its war on Gaza, following the October 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas — which killed at least 1,200 people — it declared two objectives: the destruction of Hamas and the release of the 251 hostages taken by the Palestinian militant group. Twenty-two months later, both goals remain largely unmet. Hamas is far from being destroyed. Of the hostages, 148 were released and 56 bodies returned during two short ceasefires — in November 2023, and between January and March 2025. Israeli troops rescued eight hostages, while around 50 remain in captivity.

On the other side, Israel’s war has devastated Gaza, a 365 sq. km territory, home to 2.3 million people, sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea. At least 64,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began — that is 2.8% of Gaza’s entire population. Of the dead, more than 18,000 are children. Thousands more remain missing. More than 1,60,000 people, over 7% of Gaza’s population, have been wounded. These figures make Gaza one of the deadliest battlefields in the 21st century. Nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced, most of it multiple times. Since March, when the second ceasefire collapsed, Israel has tightened its blockade of the enclave, triggering a mass starvation crisis. On August 22, 2025, a UN body officially declared a famine in Gaza.

According to the UN, at least 1,300 Palestinians were shot dead at aid centres while seeking food since May. Dozens of children have died from starvation and malnutrition. The scale of death, starvation and displacement has intensified accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has rejected these charges, insisting that Israel is fighting Hamas. Efforts to reach a ceasefire have stalled, as there is no consensus on the “day after” in Gaza. Hamas demands a full Israeli withdrawal, while Mr. Netanyahu insists on “total victory”. As the war grinds on, the suffering in Gaza deepens, with no end in sight.

Thousands of people protested on Saturday (August 31, 2025) against Israel’s siege of Gaza on the sidelines of the Venice Film Festival, seeking to move the spotlight from movie drama to real-world trauma.

Organised by left-wing political groups in northeast Italy, the demonstration began in the early evening a few kilometres from the festival where top Hollywood talent from George Clooney and Julia Roberts to Emma Stone have walked the red carpet in recent days.

The protesters, whose numbers AFP reporters estimated to be about three to four thousand, marched slowly to the entrance of the festival in the beachfront Lido district, waving Palestinian flags, as the Hollywood blockbuster “Frankenstein” was due to have its world premiere nearby.

“You are all an audience to genocide” read one sign.

Protesters said the film industry should use its public platform at Venice — the world’s oldest film festival whose movies often go on to Oscar glory — to focus attention on Gaza.

“The entertainment industry has the advantage of being followed a lot, and so they should take a position on Gaza,” Marco Ciotola, a 31-year-old computer scientist from Venice, told AFP at the rally.

“I don’t say that everyone needs to say ‘genocide’, but at least everyone needs to take a position, because this is not a political situation. This is a human situation.”

“We all know what is happening and it’s not possible that it carries on,” said Claudia Poggi, a teacher holding a Palestinian flag as people shouted “Stop the Genocide!” and “Free Palestine”.

The Gaza war was one of the main talking points in the lead-up to the festival due to an open letter denouncing the Israeli government and calling on the festival to speak out against the war more forcefully.

The letter, drafted by a group called Venice4Palestine, has garnered more than 2,000 signatures from film professionals, including “Frankenstein” director Guillermo del Toro, according to organisers.

A similar initiative was organised at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

“The objective of the letter was to bring Gaza and Palestine to the core of the public conversation in Venice,” Venice4Palestine co-founder and director Fabiomassimo Lozzi told AFP.

“We are amazed at the amount of reaction,” he added.

“It was like people in our business were just waiting for someone to raise our voice.”

On the same day just blocks away on the red carpet, “Frankenstein” stars Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi posed for the paparazzi and signed autographs.

The Netflix-produced film is one of 21 movies in the main competition vying for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion.

On the red carpet Friday, Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani held up a sign saying “Stop the Genocide in Gaza.” She told AFP it was “essential that we make our voices heard.”

“I want every person to be able to speak out on this. And raise their voice. And make their voice heard,” she said, calling what was going on in Gaza “an attack on humanity.”

The festival has said it would not disinvite actors who have supported Israeli’s actions in Gaza, as the collective had asked it to do for Israeli actor Gal Gador and Britain’s Gerard Butler — who regardless were not expected to attend the festival.

Venice4Palestine’s Lozzi defended the proposed boycott.

“I believe that it’s justified in the same way I believed about 40 years ago that it was justified boycotting artists who performed in South Africa at the height of the apartheid system,” he said.

Next week will see the premiere of “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, set in Gaza, by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, in the main competition.

Actors Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix, and directors Alfonso Cuaron and Jonathan Glazer, have joined the movie as executive producers, according to film business news outlet Deadline.

It tells the true story of a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in January 2024 by Israeli forces alongside six family members while trying to flee Gaza City.

Israel invaded Gaza nearly two years ago and has killed at least 63,025 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the UN considers reliable.

The United Nations has declared a famine in the territory caused by Israel’s blockade on the territory of nearly two million people.

The war was sparked by the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Published – August 31, 2025 07:12 am IST

Jana Ayad, a malnourished Palestinian girl, during treatment at the International Medical Corps field hospital, in Deir Al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, June 2024. (File photo)
| Photo Credit: Mohammed Salem

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A top Hamas police commander met in mid-March with the heads of a Gaza clan who’d been commandeering aid meant for hungry Palestinians. He told them to stop taking the shipments or they’d be killed. A week later, that commander was killed – by Israeli troops.

The Israelis weren’t acting at the clan’s request. Rather, all three – Hamas, clans and the Israeli military – are engaged in a bloody battle for control of north Gaza and aid distribution, making an already troubled process more dangerous and unreliable. Famine is a threat, and people are beginning to die of hunger, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The dead commander, Fayeq al-Mabhouh, had organized a safe route so that those who’d been desperately making bread from animal feed got wheat flour, according to a senior Hamas official and several others on the ground, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Israeli troops killed several others working with Mabhouh, Gazans say, and the safe route died with them.

Israeli military officials acknowledge killing Mabhouh and colleagues during their operation in Shifa Hospital, along with almost 200 other Hamas operatives, but say it had nothing to do with aid. “We are at war against Hamas, he was a top Hamas terrorist and therefore was killed,” said Major Nir Dinar, a spokesperson.

International aid groups are also central players in Gaza and in frequent conflict with Israel. UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, is essentially a Palestinian organization that Israel is trying to shut down on charges that it’s too cozy with Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the US and European Union.

A number of governments have stopped funding UNRWA because of those charges, and UNRWA said last week that although it’s best positioned to get aid to those in need, Israel is stopping it from doing so, worsening hunger and suffering. While everywhere in the coastal strip is in need of food, the north is the most dire.

A recent UN-backed report said famine is imminent in northern Gaza where 70% of the population is on the brink of starvation. Some two dozen people, including babies, have died from starvation in the north, the Hamas-run health ministry says. This is why many, including the US, are seeking an immediate cease-fire. Israel says it must finish the destruction of Hamas and that the aid difficulty isn’t its fault.

Some aid groups have accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon in its war against Hamas, which began on Oct. 7 when Hamas operatives broke into Israel, killing, abusing and abducting hundreds. Israel’s retaliatory war has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas officials who don’t distinguish between civilians and fighters.

The International Rescue Committee said in a statement that “US-funded humanitarian assistance has been consistently and arbitrarily denied by the Israeli authorities.”

A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in response to queries from Bloomberg, said, “Between March 1 and 15, every fifth humanitarian mission to the north was denied access. This is in addition to delays, impediments and multiple dangers, including live fire. The Israeli authorities have impeded the import of items critically needed to save lives in Gaza, including generators to power medical operations.

Shimon Freedman, a spokesperson for the Israeli military’s civilian affairs department, denied the accusations, saying Israel has been facilitating aid into northern Gaza but international aid groups haven’t increased the number of trucks, workers or working hours as needed.

He added, “It is absolutely not true that we stop generators from going in. Some have been delivered by our soldiers to hospitals. We prioritize water, food and shelter equipment.”

His department issued a rebuttal to the UN-backed report on starvation, saying it “contains multiple factual and methodological flaws, some of them serious.” The rebuttal adds, “We outright reject any allegations according to which Israel is purposefully starving the civilian population in Gaza.”

In recent days, Gazans in the southern city of Rafah say some prices have dropped dramatically. Frozen chicken, which used to cost 80 shekels ($22) per kilo has fallen to 20 shekels.

Khaled al-Hams, who runs a charity in Gaza, said one of the biggest problems is that farmland is located next to the border with Israel which has been off-limits since the war.

“The lands are inaccessible, the sea is closed to fishermen and Gaza relies on food that is coming in the form of aid shipments which are slow,” he said, adding that Hamas “has not managed the crisis efficiently.”

Shira Efron, a policy adviser at Israel Policy Forum, a liberal US-based group, and former consultant to Israel’s Defense Ministry, said the battle over aid is a proxy for a battle over control. “If you have aid, you have power,” she said, “so there are unintended consequences from the fight to control it.”

She said foreign groups and the UN are right that Israeli inspections of aid trucks are a major bottleneck. “Israel closes the crossings at 4 every day and for Shabbat and holidays,” she said. She added that Israel’s complaints about a lack of trucks and drivers from aid groups are also valid.

Israel says its job is to “facilitate” the aid, not to provide and distribute it – that’s the role of aid organizations. But Efron said international humanitarian law requires the occupying army to get the aid to the people.

“The overall responsibility for aid coming in is on Israel,” she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Four more children have died of “malnutrition and dehydration” in war-torn Gaza, the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry said on Friday, the latest such reported deaths as famine warnings mount.

The deaths occurred at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement, noting that the number of child “malnutrition and dehydration” deaths now totalled 10.

Earlier Friday, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA told reporters that “if something doesn’t change, a famine is almost inevitable” in Gaza.

“Once a famine is declared, it is too late for too many people,” said the spokesman, Jens Laerke.

Global attention turned to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza on Thursday, when the health ministry said more than 100 people were killed after desperate Palestinians rushed an aid convoy.

Israeli troops opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food supplies during a chaotic disturbance.

World leaders called on Friday for an investigation into the deaths and a ceasefire nearly five months into the war, which kicked off with Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive to eliminate Hamas has now killed at least 30,228, mostly women and children, according to the ministry’s latest toll.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)