Gaza woke to devastating scenes Saturday as Israeli bombardments intensified across the Strip, claiming more than 120 Palestinian lives and wounding nearly 200 others since Friday morning. The Israeli occupation military has officially announced a major escalation, launching what it calls “Operation Gideon’s Chariots.”
At least 45 Palestinian children have been killed over the past two days in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to UNICEF, amid ongoing and relentless bombardment.https://t.co/EXsfj6EFiR
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 17, 2025
In the northern Gaza Strip, three Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces targeted a house in Tel al-Zaatar area, with victims rushed to the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia. Additional casualties were reported near Andalusia Tower in northwest Gaza City, with one person in critical condition at Shifa Medical Complex.
BREAKING: Israeli occupation forces bomb an apartment near the Al-Karama roundabout, northwest of Gaza City, according to local sources. pic.twitter.com/uywzgF4JnH
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 17, 2025
Three more Palestinians were wounded when a tent was bombed near Taiba Towers in the supposedly “humanitarian” zone west of Khan Yunis, while warplanes conducted strikes on Al-Qarara town to the northeast.
The tents of displaced Palestinians which were burned in an Israeli airstrike that targeted them in the courtyard of Al Aqsa hospital in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza. pic.twitter.com/aFqzH4shTc
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) May 17, 2025
According to Imad Eid, Al-Manar’s Gaza corespondent, Israeli occupation forces have completely isolated Rafah from the rest of Gaza, focusing operations on key corridors between Rafah and Khan Yunis, and between Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah. Simultaneously, Palestinians in northern Gaza face forced displacement from Jabalia and Beit Lahia toward western Gaza City amid heavy bombardment.
The Israeli occupation military stated it has begun “extensive strikes” to “achieve all war objectives,” including prisoner release and Hamas dismantlement. Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported on May 5 that the operation’s ultimate goal is complete occupation of Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip are intensifying, amid massive destruction and a continuous rise in civilian casualties. pic.twitter.com/SRcSYUAcCz
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) May 16, 2025
Israeli media indicated the offensive was deliberately timed to follow US President Trump’s regional visit, which concluded without any new ceasefire agreement. The operation, approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet in early May, involved mobilizing tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.
The name “Merkavot Gideon” (Gideon’s Wagons) carries significant historical connotations, recalling a 1948 Nakba operation that expelled Palestinians from Beit Shean. According to Israeli sources, the current operation could last months and includes plans to evacuate entire populations from combat zones to southern Gaza, with the military maintaining control of captured areas.
According to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, this operation, which is likely to last several months, includes “the complete evacuation of the entire population of Gaza from combat zones, including northern Gaza, to areas in the southern Gaza Strip,” where “the army will remain in any area it occupies.”
During Trump’s three-day tour, which he departed from the UAE on the fourth day, the Israeli occupation army killed more than 378 Palestinians. This toll is nearly four times the number of victims in the four days preceding the tour, which totaled nearly 100, according to data compiled by an Anadolu Agency correspondent based on data from the Gaza Ministry of Health.
With full American support, ‘Israel’ has been committing genocidal crimes in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving approximately 173,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.
Source: Agencies and Al-Manar English Website
