Gaza death toll exceeds 52,500 as siege deepens, strikes intensify

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen
5 May 2025 15:38

With 32 martyrs in 24 hours, Gaza's death toll surges amid fuel shortages, besieged families, and blocked aid.

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The body of Palestinian Aya al-Talli, 5, who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike on the Gaza Strip, lies on the floor of the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, April 27, 2025. (AP)

Gaza hospitals have received 32 martyrs, including nine bodies retrieved from under the rubble, and 119 injured individuals in 24 hours, according to the latest report issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Numerous victims remain trapped beneath the debris or lie in the streets, inaccessible to ambulance and civil defense crews due to the ongoing “Israeli” airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza death toll from the continuous Israeli aggression has now reached 52,567 martyrs and 118,610 injuries since October 7, 2023, as per the ministry.

Since March 18, 2025, the toll has risen by 2,459 martyrs and 6,569 injuries, further deepening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israeli genocide is ongoing

At dawn on Monday, 19 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed as a result of intense Israeli airstrikes targeting residential areas in northern Gaza. The attack is part of a bloody escalation that has lasted for months.

Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said rescue crews managed to retrieve 15 martyrs and 10 injured from under the rubble of three residential apartments in a building in the al-Karama neighborhood, northwest Gaza. The building was directly hit by three missiles while residents were asleep, without prior warning.

New massacre in Beit Lahia targeted displaced people seeking refuge

Concurrently, martyrs and missing persons under the rubble were also reported following an Israeli airstrike on the al-Attar family's home, west of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

Basal detailed that four martyrs and four wounded were also pulled from the rubble of the al-Attar home in the al-Salatin area of Beit Lahia. The house was sheltering dozens of displaced people, and several others remain missing under the debris.

🇵🇸🥀Children pulled from under rubble of Al-Attar family home, west Beit Lahia, north Gaza.. pic.twitter.com/27aJj1b4s2
— Ellen Jean Abare (@EllenJeanAbare) May 5, 2025

Later, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Gaza reported that the death toll from the house bombing in al-Salatin had risen to six martyrs.

In a separate incident, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on an area southwest of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

On Sunday night and early Monday morning, various parts of Gaza witnessed intense Israeli air raids, with three homes destroyed in Rafah, southern Gaza, and two more in the al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast Gaza City. High-powered explosives were used in the attacks.

Israeli blockade worsens the already dire humanitarian crisis

On its part, Hamas reaffirmed its rejection of turning humanitarian aid into a tool of political blackmail, voicing support for the international stance that opposes arrangements disregarding humanitarian principles.

In a statement, the movement urged the international community not to be misled by the occupation’s narratives and to act immediately to fully lift the blockade on Gaza.

The statement added that “the occupation’s continued prevention of aid entry and obstruction of humanitarian distribution systems clearly reveals its deliberate attempt to engineer famine in Gaza.”

Israel starving millions of people in Gaza right now, they are literal Nazis of 2025 pic.twitter.com/OpF3fFdXcT
— Furkan Gözükara (@GozukaraFurkan) May 4, 2025

The Israeli military is also blocking international organizations from accessing fuel storage sites designated for hospitals, citing their location in so-called “red zones".

It is worth noting that the Gaza Ministry of Health warned that this action “threatens the shutdown of vital medical facilities,” noting that remaining fuel supplies “will only last for three more days,” exacerbating the effects of the Israeli siege.

.@UNRWA condemns the two-month Israeli blockade causing families in #Gaza to barely survive amid daily bombings, leaving the sick without medical help.

“Imagine not having anything to feed your children. Children in Gaza are going to bed starving.”https://t.co/1Z8X4a1MVw pic.twitter.com/JNWpoBWmWP
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) May 4, 2025

Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) condemned the ongoing two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza, stating that it has pushed families to the brink of survival amid relentless daily bombings.

In a post on X, the agency warned that the siege has left the sick without access to medical care and children going to bed hungry, emphasizing the dire humanitarian toll: “Imagine not having anything to feed your children. Children in Gaza are going to bed starving.”