Children among 11 killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli air strikes in the early hours of Wednesday killed at least 11 people, including women and children.

Israel resumed its aerial and ground offensive across Gaza from March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted hostilities in the territory.

A pre-dawn air strike in Gaza City killed 10 people, including several women and children, according to civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

He said the strike targeted the home belonging to the Hassouna family in the Al-Tuffa neighbourhood of Gaza City.

"Our teams transferred 10 martyrs and several wounded to Al-Shifa hospital after the Hassouna family's home was targeted," Bassal said.

In a separate attack, a child was killed in the southern city of Khan Yunis, rescue teams said.

Top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have repeatedly stated that military pressure is the only way to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz reiterated that Israel would continue to "relentlessly strike Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure" in Gaza.

"If Hamas continues to refuse (to release hostages), operations will intensify and move to the next stage," Katz said in a statement, without specifying what the next stage would entail.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military announced it had recently killed a militant involved in a 2014 attack that resulted in the deaths of five soldiers.

Mahmud Ibrahim Abu Hisirah was reportedly part of group of militants that infiltrated Israel through a tunnel in July 2014 and killed five soldiers, the military said.

In recent years, he had served as a close aide to Ezzedine Haddad, a senior militant from Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military added.

Since Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza in mid-March, at least 1,630 people have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's military assault since then has killed at least 51,000 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry.

‘No humanitarian aid will enter Gaza’

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said the country would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering the war-battered Gaza Strip, where intense aerial and ground assaults have resumed.

"Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said in a statement, amid a major humanitarian crisis following Israel's decision to prevent the entry of aid since March 2.

"No one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid," Katz said.

The United Nations warned on Monday that Gaza is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began in October 2023.

"The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities," said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In a statement, OCHA said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half, and medical supplies, fuel, water and other essentials are in short supply.

"Due to the closure of the crossings compounded by restrictions within Gaza, dwindling supplies have forced them (aid workers) to ration and reduce deliveries to make the most of the remaining stocks," OCHA said.

Israel resumed its intense military offensive in the Palestinian territory after a ceasefire deal that came into effect on January 19 fell apart two months later over differences regarding its next phase.

Hundreds of thousands of people have since been displaced.

Israel tightly controls the entry of vital international aid for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.