STORY: Mourning Palestinians gathered at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Wednesday (September 24) to bid farewell to loved ones killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City.

Medics said at least 20 people were killed and many others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a shelter housing displaced families near a market in the middle of the city. Two other people were killed in a house nearby, they said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported attack on the shelter. Israel has regularly said it takes steps to avoid hitting civilians. Israel says it is seeking to eliminate militants from Hamas, which attacked southern Israel from Gaza in 2023, and free hostages still held by the group.

Israeli forces pushed towards the heart of Gaza City on Wednesday, risking the lives of Palestinians who had stayed put in hopes that growing pressure on Israel for a ceasefire would mean they would not lose their homes.

The Israeli government has urged the population of Gaza City to move south but many people hesitated, citing the lack of security and widespread hunger there.

Israeli forces, which began closing in on the city of more than a million in August, have ignored calls to stop an offensive that the government says aims to destroy the last stronghold of Hamas militants whose 2023 attack on Israel and seizure of hostages triggered the war.

Hamas' October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people, and 251 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's two-year-long campaign has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gazan health authorities, and has spread famine, demolished most buildings, and displaced most of the territory's population, in many cases multiple times.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Palestinians mourn loved ones killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City

VIDEO SHOWS: PALESTINIANS IN GAZA CITY'S AL-AHLI ARAB HOSPITAL MOURNING LOVED ONES KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES / SHROUDED BODIES ON THE GROUND / PALESTINIANS PRAYING AND CARRYING BODIES FOR BURIAL / COMMENTS FROM PALESTINIANS

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT.

SHOWS: GAZA CITY, GAZA (SEPTEMBER 24, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. MOURNERS AT AL-AHLI ARAB HOSPITAL GATHERING AROUND SHROUDED BODIES PLACED ON THE GROUND

2. MAN TOUCHING BODY PLACED ON THE GROUND

3. MAN SITTING NEAR SHROUDED BODIES ON THE GROUND

4. VARIOUS OF BODIES ON THE GROUND, SURROUNDED BY MOURNERS

5. VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN WHO LOST HER NEPHEW AND NIECE, TALA AL-DEEB, SITTING NEAR BODIES

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO LOST HER NEPHEW AND NIECE, TALA AL-DEEB, SAYING:

“Those are my sister's children, they were sleeping in God’s care. Suddenly, they were hit by a rocket, they were all martyred - the father (referring to her sister’s father-in-law), his son (referring to her sister’s husband) with his children (referring to her nephew and niece) and his wife (referring to her sister’s mother-in-law). They were all martyred. They were in God’s care. Where are the Arab states, where is humanity and the human rights? Children sleeping in God’s care... Where are they? No one cares for them or asks about them.”

7. VARIOUS OF SHROUDED BODIES AND BODIES IN BODY BAGS ON THE GROUND, SURROUNDED BY MOURNERS

8. PEOPLE MOVING SHROUDED BODY TO STRETCHER

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO LOST HER NEPHEW AND NIECE, TALA AL-DEEB, SAYING:

“They tell us to go to safe places, there are no places. We go to safe places, they bomb them. They do not leave any safe space. They are lying to us when they say there are safe places and when they tell us to go to Al-Mawasi, go there (somewhere else). These are all lies, they are lying to us.”

10. VARIOUS OF SHROUDED BODIES AND BODIES IN BODY BAGS ON THE GROUND, SURROUNDED BY MOURNERS

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO LOST EIGHT MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY, MANAL AYAD, SAYING:

“Eight people, eight people - I lost eight people. My son, his children, his wife, and his orphan nephews. Before this time, I also lost three children. I now have no children anymore. (I had) four children. This one was the last one. Praise God, It is not a loss for God.”

12. VARIOUS OF MOURNER CRYING OVER BODIES

13. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO LOST EIGHT MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY, MANAL AYAD, SAYING:

“They hit them while sleeping, what have they done? Eight children (people), what have they done?”

14. MOURNERS SITTING, SOME CRYING

15. BODIES ON THE GROUND / MOURNERS PRAYING

16. SHROUDED BODIES ON THE GROUND

17. MOURNERS PRAYING

18. VARIOUS OF MOURNERS CARRYING BODIES TO CEMETERY