From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 28, 2025
Hamas-run health ministry says 71 killed in Gaza in past 24 hours
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The IDF killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza today, Hamas-run health officials say, and wounded dozens in the south of the Strip, as residents reported intensified military bombardment in the suburbs of Gaza City.
Thursday’s deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said.
The IDF is preparing to take Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban center, an operation that is expected to displace the roughly 1 million Palestinians sheltering there.
Residents there said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israel forces bombarded the eastern suburbs of Shejaiya, Zeitoun, and Sabra.
Earlier today, the IDF said its troops were continuing to strike Hamas and other terror groups across the Strip, and had destroyed dozens of targets over the past day as part of preparations for a broader offensive to seize Gaza City.
In southern Gaza, dozens of Palestinians were admitted to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis with gunshot wounds, according to a doctor there who says the IDF had opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians gathered near an aid distribution site.
Mohammad Saqer, the head of nursing, tells Reuters most of the patients had been admitted with gunshot wounds to the upper parts of the body and many were in critical condition.
The patients had reported being shot as they sought to collect food from a distribution site in nearby Rafah, he says.
The military had no immediate comment. It has acknowledged firing warning shots at crowds near the distribution sites but has said death tolls at the sites are inflated.
The Hamas-run health ministry also says that four more people, including two children, died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising deaths from such causes to 317 people, including 121 children, since the war started.
Israel disputes the health ministry’s fatality figures and on Wednesday asked a global hunger monitor to retract an assessment that found that Gaza City and surrounding areas are suffering from famine.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this post.
The Times of Israel Community.