On Saturday before dawn, Israeli forces continued to pound Gaza with multiple air strikes in different areas., Israeli occupation artillery intensively shelled multiple areas in the north and west of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza Strip.
Israeli occupation aircraft launched airstrikes targeting areas near Al-Faluja Street, east of Rafah City, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israeli occupation forces detonate residential buildings, northeast of Beit Lahiya town, in northern Gaza Strip.
Since renewing its assault on Gaza on March 18th, Israel has killed nearly 900 Palestinians, mainly women and children. This includes yesterday’s assassination of 16 medics who were rounded up in a targeted killing, and their ambulances destroyed by Israeli forces. Two days earlier, two well-known journalists were targeted and killed along with their families.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Israeli attacks have killed 896 people and wounded 1,984 in the territory since Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas on March 18, 2025.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) warned of the dire consequences of the collapse of the fragile ceasefire on women and girls in Gaza, highlighting “horrific details” of the human losses in just eight days since the resumption of Israel’s war of extermination on the Strip.
Speaking via videoconference from Amman, Maryse Guillemont, the Special Representative of UN Women in Palestine, said that ” 830+ people were killed, including 174 women and 322 children, and 1,787 others were injured, between March 18 and 25.”
She pointed out that “this means the killing of 21 women and more than 40 children every day,” stressing that “this is not collateral damage; this is a war in which women and children bear the brunt . ”
She stressed that women and children constituted nearly 60% of the victims in the recent events, which is “a horrific testament to the indiscriminate nature of this violence.”
Gimmon quoted the organization’s partners and women and girls in Gaza as demanding an end to the war, stressing that the situation is limited to “survival .”
Maris Guimon relayed testimonies from women who refuse to be displaced again, emphasizing that “there are no safe places anyway.” She quoted a woman from Deir al-Balah as saying, “My mother says, ‘Death is the same, whether in Gaza City or Deir al-Balah… We just want to go back to Gaza . ‘”
Another woman was quoted as saying: “We watch the news intensely. Life has stopped. We haven’t slept all night, we are paralyzed. We can’t leave. My area is cut off. I’m scared of being bombed – every nightmare imaginable goes through my mind .”
Gimmon noted that Israel has halted the entry of humanitarian aid since March 2, and that Israeli bombing resumed on March 18, endangering the lives of residents.
She stressed that the “truce,” although short, was a breathing space that allowed for some reforms and a return to Gaza City .
“During that time, I had the opportunity to visit some of our partner organizations that were repairing their offices in Gaza City with available materials. I saw neighbors joining forces to clear some of the rubble in their streets, and I heard children playing. I met women who expressed their fragile hope for peace and rebuilding their lives. I saw thousands of people on the roads returning to Gaza City, ” she continued.
But Maris Guimon said that “hope has now faded .” The UN official stressed that “the brutal war that has been ongoing for 539 days is not just a conflict; it is a war on women—on their dignity, their bodies, and their very survival. Women have been stripped of their basic rights and forced to live in a reality where the only stability is loss and further loss . ”
She pointed out that “more than 50,000 people were killed and more than 110,000 were injured.”
The world stands by and watches, normalizing what should not be normalized .
Gimmon called for the protection of the rights and dignity of Gaza’s residents, especially women and girls, who have “borne the brunt of this war.”
She stressed that “women are adept at ending this nightmare,” but “the horror continues, the atrocities escalate, and the world seems to be standing by, normalizing what should not be normalized . ”
Guimon concluded her remarks by emphasizing the need to end the war, implement international humanitarian law, respect the systems established to protect humanity, and ensure equal treatment of all people.
Mohammed Dahman wrote the following report for Wafa news agency about Palestinians in Gaza preparing for the Eid al-Fitr holiday on Sunday – one of the most significant holidays in the Muslim holy year, marking an end to the holy month of Ramadan.
In the Shati refugee camp, northwest of Gaza City, a group of women and girls prepare “ma’amoul,” a traditional Eid cookie made from semolina and dates, before baking it in a wood-fired oven. This is in preparation for Eid al-Fitr, despite the ongoing war of extermination waged by the Israeli occupation since October 7 , 2023, and the loss and destruction it has caused.
Umm Amjad Kilani, displaced from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip to Al-Shati refugee camp, says, “We make Eid cookies in an attempt to preserve our social heritage despite the suffering and lack of any joy during the holiday.”
After Gazans began to heal their wounds following the “ceasefire agreement” on January 19 , the occupation resumed its war of extermination on March 18, resulting in the deaths of more than 900 civilians and the injury of approximately 2,000 others, most of them children and women.
Eid al-Fitr is approaching, but in Gaza it passes like just another day of a long war, devoid of decorations, joy, or any of the rituals that once brought joy to the holiday. Children’s laughter can barely be heard amid the tired faces, eyes weary with tears, and bodies worn down by hunger and waiting.
Since the war resumed, there has been nothing but news of death and destruction. Gaza has become a city drowning in grief, while its people live with hope that fades with each new dawn.
Dreams under the rubble
Mohammed Matar, a tailor shop owner, bitterly recalls the days when Eid was a season of livelihood and life. He says, “We worked day and night, barely finding time to rest. There were so many orders, and business was booming, especially during the holiday season.”
But he pauses, choking on his words, then adds in a broken voice: “Today, nothing remains… The workshop was completely burned down after the occupation invaded Beit Lahia, and with it, the dreams of thirty employees who supported their families from this work were shattered.”
Matar’s loss wasn’t limited to his livelihood, but extended to his loved ones: “My brother and his daughter were killed in the bombing of my sister’s house, where they had sought refuge in search of safety. But even safety has become an illusion in this burning city.”
Israeli actions in Gaza, including strikes on populated areas in which civilians have been killed, “bear the hallmarks” of atrocities, the United Nations’ aid agency says.
“There is a callous disregard for human life and dignity. The acts of war that we see bear the hallmarks of atrocity crimes,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the OCHA aid agency, said in Geneva.
Israel has killed over 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the onset of the war, including over 17,961 children in Gaza, marking the large toll over history, according to Government Media Office.
Meanwhile, the Israeli branch of US NGO Physicians for Human Rights has said Israel is “responsible for targeting and obstructing medical teams in Gaza” and demanded accountability, a day after the body of a paramedic was recovered from Rafah.
The group said 14 paramedics and civil defence personnel were missing after heading to Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood amid an Israeli siege.
“All were responding to the wounded when last seen,” the physicians’ group said on Twitter.
Only the body of one civil defence officer has so far been found so far.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society on Friday said four ambulance vehicles were found completely destroyed and buried in the sand and accused Israel of “deliberately obstructing search efforts to uncover the fate of our missing teams”.
After hours of working with minimal equipment, Civil Defense teams managed to recover the bodies of civilians trapped under the rubble of their homes after an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building in Al-Zaitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, last night.
