Rescuers say death toll from Israeli strike on north Gaza home rises to 23

Gaza's civil defense agency reported on Friday that the death toll from an Israeli air strike the day before on a house in the north of the Palestinian territory had risen to 23.

"Civil defense teams recovered 11 bodies last night and this morning following the Israeli bombing that targeted a residential house ... in Jabalia," Mohammed al-Mughayyir, an official with the agency, told AFP.

"This is in addition to the 12 victims recovered at the time of the attack yesterday," he added.

Gaza's northern area of Jabalia has repeatedly been a focus Israel's military offensive since the start of the war on October 7, 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel.

Mourners react near the body of a Palestinian, following an Israeli strike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced people, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, April 17, 2025. Reuters

The military has returned to the district several times after announcing it had been cleared of militants, saying Hamas fighters had regrouped there.

In another strike in the area on Thursday, Israel hit what was previously a police station, rescuers said.

The toll from that attack has risen to 11, Mughayyir said, after initially announcing that nine people had been killed.

The military said on Thursday that it had struck a Hamas "command and control center" in the area of Jabalia, without specifying the target.

Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian, following an Israeli strike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced people, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, April 17, 2025.Reuters

Israeli strikes continued on Friday, with the civil defense agency reporting that at least five people -- a couple and their three children -- had been killed when their tent was struck in the Al-Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that the deceased woman had been pregnant.

Since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 after the collapse of a two-month ceasefire with Hamas, at least 1,978 people have been killed in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll of the war to 51,355, according to the territory's health ministry.

During the attack, Palestinian militants also abducted 251 people to Gaza, 58 of whom are still held captive there, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israeli officials and the military say consistent military pressure in Gaza is required to secure the release of the remaining hostages.