CITIZENS NEWS

Israeli strikes kill over 100 Palestinians in a single day as Israel divides up Gaza

By isabelle // 2025-04-04

• Israeli airstrikes killed over 100 Palestinians in Gaza, including women and children sheltering in schools and tent camps.
• A U.S.-backed $24 million arms sale to Israel proceeds despite concerns over weapons reaching violent settlers.
• Gaza’s hospitals face collapse, with patients dying from treatable wounds due to shortages of supplies and attacks on medical facilities.
• Israel’s strategy to divide Gaza signals potential annexation, with far-right officials pushing for mass Palestinian expulsion.
• Global condemnation grows as the U.S. continues military support, while Gaza nears famine and mass displacement worsens.

In a single day of relentless bombardment, Israeli airstrikes killed more than 100 Palestinians across Gaza, including women and children sheltering in schools and tent camps, as the U.S. continues to arm and fund what critics call a genocidal campaign. The attacks, which targeted displaced civilians and medical facilities, mark a grim escalation in Israel’s seven-month war—a war enabled by Washington’s unwavering political and military support. The bloodshed on Thursday included the bombing of the Dar al-Arqam School in Gaza City, where families had sought refuge from earlier strikes. At least 29 people were killed, including 18 children, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. Rescue workers scrambling to pull survivors from the rubble were met with a second strike on the same site, compounding the carnage. Meanwhile, in al-Mawasi—a so-called "safe zone" forcibly designated by Israel—a midnight strike leveled a building surrounded by tents, killing seven. As Israel carves Gaza into militarized zones, tightening its grip on Palestinian land, the Trump administration has finalized a $24 million rifle sale to Israeli forces, despite warnings that weapons could end up in the hands of violent West Bank settlers. The move underscores America’s direct complicity in a war that has now claimed over 50,000 Palestinian lives.

Gaza’s collapsing lifelines

The UN estimates that 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Israel shattered a fragile ceasefire on March 18, resuming a campaign that Gaza’s Health Ministry says has killed 1,249 people in just weeks. Hospitals, already crippled by months of siege, are now scenes of "silent death," as described by Al-Ahli Hospital staff. With no painkillers, fuel, or clean water, medics watch patients succumb to wounds that would otherwise be treatable. "Death is becoming very imminent now," said Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City. "There is no guarantee this hospital won’t be attacked." Israel’s blockade has severed food and aid shipments for a month, leaving 85% of Gaza’s population without basic sustenance. The World Food Programme warns its operations are "shutting down," while sewage floods streets and disease spreads.

Dividing Gaza: A land grab in progress

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly declared Israel’s intent to "divide the strip," seizing key corridors like the Morag route—a potential prelude to permanent annexation. Military analysts suggest the strategy aims to splinter Gaza into isolated ghettos, echoing the 2005 disengagement in reverse. The plan aligns with far-right demands to expel Palestinians entirely. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees police forces receiving U.S. rifles, has aggressively armed settler militias in the West Bank, where troops killed a 17-year-old Palestinian overnight.

Global condemnation, American silence

While Germany and Turkey have rebuked Israel’s violations of international law, the U.S. remains its chief enabler. The Biden administration paused the rifle sale briefly, only for the Trump White House to fast-track it. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council convenes emergency sessions as mass graves of executed aid workers are uncovered. In Lebanon, an Israeli drone strike assassinated a Hamas official in Sidon, killing his family—a violation of ceasefire terms. Yet Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC for war crimes, was welcomed in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pledged to withdraw from the court. As protests erupt from Amman to Baghdad, Gaza’s survivors dig through rubble with bare hands. "What kind of life is this?" one resident cried, cradling a child’s body. With hospitals overflowing and famine looming, the question echoes across a wasteland carved by American bombs and Israeli bulldozers. Sources for this article include: News.Antiwar.com AlJazeera.com CNN.com

Israel violence genocide twisted big government chaos WWIII Palestinians humanitarian crisis Gaza