Gaza: Horrific Israeli attacks compared to early days of war

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have likened Israel’s horrific bombardment of the enclave to the early days of the military onslaught, which began in October 2023, after over 100 people were killed or reported missing since overnight on Thursday and early Friday.

Some residents took to social media to describe atrocities they sheltered from Israel's bombs. Many said Israel was "wiping out neighbourhoods" following relentless artillery shelling and airstrikes, some ongoing for three hours.

"Explosions shook the ground, smoke filled the sky, and the scene brings back memories of those early days we thought had passed. Gaza is bleeding again, and the world continue to merely watch," wrote photojournalist Mahmoud Bassam.

Israeli forces struck homes, hospitals and other infrastructure across the enclave, particularly in Deir al-Balah in the centre and Beit Lahia and Jabalia in the north.

Videos shared online showed what were described as "apocalyptic scenes" at some of the enclave’s remaining health facilities, including the Indonesian Hospital, where families and health workers scrambled to save the lives of those wounded by Israeli fire.

Multiple members of several families were killed in Friday’s attacks, including those belonging to the Ghandour, Saliha, Zinati and Abu Rukba families.

Meanwhile, surviving families have been forced to flee parts of northern Gaza in a bid to escape from Israel’s intensified strikes, as tanks advanced into Beit Lahia and other localities.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 250 Palestinians have been killed in last 36 hours. The escalation also comes as US President Donald Trump embarked on his tour of the Middle East earlier this week.

Israeli newspaper Maariv said on Friday that the increased bombing is being carried out "in preparation" for a looming ground assault on northern Gaza, citing an unnamed military source.

Israeli army circles have been discussing executing the military operation once Trump leaves the region. The army is reportedly aiming to implement the "Gideon's Chariots" plan aimed at displacing Palestinians and pushing them towards the south again, echoing the early days of Israel’s onslaught.

Abbas decries Israel's crimes in Gaza on Nakba anniversary

On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the international community to take more action to halt the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip – as Palestinians worldwide remembered the 77th anniversary of the Nakba.

In a speech delivered by UN envoy Riyad Mansour during a commemoration event at the UN headquarters in New York, Abbas said that "Israeli crimes against our Palestinian people have not stopped since 1948", accusing the Netanyahu government of destruction, starvation and genocidal crimes aimed at deliberately displacing Palestinians from Gaza, as well as from the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

'The continued denial of the crimes of Zionism and the Israeli occupying forces against our Palestinian people will be of no use.  It will not cancel the truth or erase the memory. History is indelible, and justice is not time-bound," he said.

"Today, we stand before you, not only to commemorate this sombre anniversary, but to renew the pledge that the Nakba was not and will not be the permanent and inevitable fate of our people."

The event, held for the second time at the UN, marks the atrocities in which 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homeland by Zionist militias to make way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

The horrors were commemorated globally on Wednesday and Thursday by Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists.

Police In Haifa arrest Israeli Gaza war protesters

In Haifa, Israeli police arrested nine Israelis for taking part in a rare demonstration against the war in Gaza on Thursday.

The Israelis held Palestinian flags and shouted anti-war slogans, urging a halt to the ongoing military onslaught in Gaza.

Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that police forcibly dispersed the demonstration, which it described as "illegal".

Haifa also witnessed protests organised by Palestinian students at the city's university on Thursday marking the Nakba, which was interrupted by Israeli harrassment.