Israeli airstrikes kill at least 80 in Gaza, cancer hospital knocked out of service

At least 80 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday, said Palestinian medical sources.

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis reported that 54 people, including women and children, were killed in strikes on the southern city, according to a press statement.

According to Gaza-based health authorities, the Gaza European Hospital, the only hospital providing medical follow-up care to cancer patients in the enclave, was out of service due to recent Israeli attacks.

The Israeli attacks "caused significant damage to infrastructure, such as sewage lines, damage to internal departments, and destruction of roads leading to the hospital," the authorities said in a press statement.

Meanwhile, medical sources told Xinhua that 26 others were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City and other areas in northern Gaza.

The airstrikes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that the Israeli military would enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days to press forward with efforts to defeat Hamas.

Israel resumed large-scale military operations in Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire. Since then, 2,876 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,800 injured, according to health officials in Gaza.

The total Palestinian death toll since the war erupted on October 7, 2023, has reached 53,010, the officials said on Thursday.

Israel is using a policy of "reducing space and emptying populated areas to pressure citizens," Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua on Thursday.

He also claimed that thousands of people spent the night in the streets amid threats of strikes on schools and shelters housing the displaced, adding that Israeli forces were obstructing emergency teams from reaching victims and systematically destroying Civil Defense infrastructure.