Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn rises to 140: civil defense

People’s Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:50, May 19, 2025

GAZA, May 18 (Xinhua) — The death toll of Palestinians from Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Sunday has risen to 140, according to the Civil Defense in Gaza.

Local sources and eyewitnesses reported that Israeli drones targeted a gathering of Palestinians as they were digging a water well in the Al-Saftawi neighborhood, north of Gaza City. Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that the airstrike killed eight people and wounded several others.

This latest major incident brings the death toll since Sunday dawn to 140, as Israeli aircraft have attacked tents housing displaced people and residential houses in various areas of the strip, according to Basal.

He added that the escalating Israeli attacks are making the civil defense, with scarce resources, unable to respond to citizens’ calls for help.

Basal explained that 75 percent of all civil defense vehicles in Gaza have stopped operating due to a lack of fuel, noting that the fuel crisis is worsening daily.

He warned that all civil defense vehicle services would be halted within the next 72 hours and that crews would be unable to carry out their humanitarian missions due to the lack of even the minimum amount of fuel needed to operate them.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli army announced that its ground forces, including reservists, had begun “extensive operations” in both northern and southern Gaza under an offensive it termed “Gideon’s Chariots.” This campaign marks a new phase in Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas and other militant factions.