The bodies of victims killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip are carried on stretchers at Ahli Arab Hospital, in Gaza City, ahead of their burial on March 18, 2025. (AFP)<\/p>\n
Gaza\u2019s health ministry says\u00a0Israel\u2019s renewed savagery has led to the massacre of at least 970 people\u00a0in 48 hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n The wave of deadly airstrikes that shattered a fragile ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday has\u00a0so far claimed the lives of at least 970 people across the besieged territory, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Before the resumption of the offensive, the death toll from the regime\u2019s 15 months of genocidal war recorded by the ministry at midday on March 17 stood at 48,577.<\/p>\n By midday on Wednesday, the figure had risen to 49,547, the ministry said.<\/p>\n The health ministry also registered “one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n It said Israel attacked a UN headquarters in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The victims had been taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the health ministry said.<\/p>\n Israel’s military denied attacking a UN building in Gaza.<\/p>\n The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) confirmed the death of one of its staff by an explosive that was “dropped or fired” on its building in Deir el-Balah.<\/p>\n “An explosive ordnance was dropped or fired at the infrastructure and detonated inside the building,\u201d it said, adding that five others were injured.<\/p>\n UNOPS\u00a0Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said he was “shocked and devastated” by the death of a staff member.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was not an accident.\u201d \u00a0he said, adding that “attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law.”<\/p>\n Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said later in the day that one of its citizens working for the United Nations was killed in\u00a0Gaza, without specifying where in the territory.<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened on Tuesday that the massacre of women and children in Gaza was \u201conly the beginning.\u201d\u00a0He stands accused of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.<\/p>\n