Israel’s attacks kill 13 as Gaza ‘left to starve and ache’

By Umut Uras and Urooba Jamal

17 May 2025 Al Jazeera

• Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip intensify, killing at least 13 Palestinians since dawn, including three members of the same family.
• The Red Crescent renews call for Israel to reopen crossings with Gaza for the entry of humanitarian aid, warning that the besieged and bombarded territory has been “left to starve and ache”.
• Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,119 Palestinians and wounded 120,214, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
• An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.

People ‘don’t understand us at all about Ukraine when we remain silent about Gaza’: Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron has told a meeting of European leaders in Albania that they should support Gaza – much like how they helped Ukraine.

“Most of humanity is watching us and sometimes they don’t really understand what we’re doing about Ukraine, but we must explain,” he said on Friday.

“They don’t understand us at all about Ukraine when we remain silent about Gaza. They tell us: ‘It is strange. You tell us that our life is at stake when territorial sovereignty is attacked, and you close your eyes when there is a massacre,'” Macron added.

“I don’t compare anything. I know the stories. But I really want to wake us up collectively about the coherence we must have on this.”

Palestinians experiencing ‘nonstop state of displacement’

^{Hani Mahmoud Reporting from Gaza City}

We have been hearing loud explosions of ongoing attacks across parts of Gaza City. Attacks are targeting two densely populated areas, Zeitoun and Shujayea.

More than half of the population in these areas has been pushed into forced displacement through new evacuation orders. People are experiencing a nonstop state of displacement across the Strip.

All of this is happening under an ongoing heavy bombardment campaign in northern Gaza.

What is also concerning is the use of explosive devices planted by the Israeli military in densely populated neighbourhoods.

They are planted overnight under heavy coverage of quadcopters.

In the early hours of this morning, many of these devices exploded and destroyed large parts of residential buildings.

The Israeli military has expanded its operations in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah city in central Gaza, pushing people out to the western part.

People keep moving from one place to another, seeking safety, which does not exist right now.

Israel’s escalation in attacks ‘coinciding with major world events’

As we’ve previously reported, seven European nations have issued a joint statement calling for an end to Israel’s military assault and blockade of Gaza.

But according to Mohamad Elmasry, an associate professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, such criticism will not mean much unless it is followed by concrete acts.

“We’ve heard scathing critiques of Israel now for 19 and a half months, but unless … action is followed through on them, then these statements are pretty empty,” Elmasry said.

“There’s really only one entity that can stop all of this, and that’s the United States … so long as the United States is willing to lend its support to this Israeli genocide, then unfortunately, I think we’re going to get more genocide.”

He also noted that Israel’s escalation in attacks usually “coincide[s] with major world events like the ones that are happening now – the Trump visit to the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine talks – because [Israel] knows that the attacks on Palestinians will then be moved down on the international news agenda”.

Israel may also be “lashing out” because Trump “has bypassed and ignored Israel now on a number of occasions,” Elmasry argued, “whether it’s negotiating with the Houthis for them to stop attacking US ships, negotiating directly with Hamas for the release of the American Israeli captive recently, or Trump announcing that they’re going to lift US sanctions on Syria.”