Israeli defense forces have produced a series of strikes through the Gaza Strip during the night and Tuesday morning, attacking terrorist and targeting infrastructure and destroying around forty construction vehicles in the Gaza Strip, which, according to the FDI, was used by Hamas for terrorist activities.
The action took place while the Civil Defense Agency managed by Gaza said that Israeli air strikes killed at least 26 people across the territory. The figures could not be verified and do not make the difference between civilians and the agents of terrorism.
Israel did not comment on individual strikes, but says that it seeks to minimize civilian deaths and stressed that Hamas uses civilians from Gaza as human shields, fighting civil zones, including houses, hospitals, schools and mosques.
In a statement, the army said that the heavy equipment it had destroyed had been used by Hamas during October 7, 2023, an assault on violation of the Israeli border barrier in dozens of locations, allowing the thousands of terrorists to broadcast in Israel.
The terraces were also used by Hamas during the war to plant bombs, dig tunnels and transparent rubble to locate the weapons buried under it, said the IDF.
This image published by FDI on April 22, 2025 shows engineering vehicles which, according to Israel, are used by Hamas, before being targeted in air strikes. (Israeli defense forces)
“The engineering vehicles that have been hit are a major element in Hamas’ ability to carry out terrorist attacks against the TSAhal troops and the State of Israel,” the statement said.
The FDI said that the strike had been made to “disrupt” Hamas’ heavy equipment capacity.
A municipality in the Jabaliya region, in northern Gaza, said that a strike in its parking lot had destroyed nine bulldozers provided by Egypt and Qatar, which helped negotiate a cease-fire that settled in January, but then collapsed in March.
Hamas denounced strikes, affirming in a press release that “the destruction of the occupation of civil equipment intended to help and save civilians and to mitigate their suffering … is a confirmation of the criminal nature of this entity, which is devoid of all moral standards.”
The heavy construction equipment was a key stipulation of Hamas in the ceasefire in January and threatened to derail the process in February, a month before it disintegrates anyway. Hamas said at the time that moving equipment, as well as thousands of mobile houses, were necessary to provide housing to the Gazans after the fighting caused a widespread devastation through the band.
The Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an air strike from the Israeli army in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, April 22, 2025. (Abdel Kareem Hana / AP)
The invasion led by October 7 of Southern Hamas of Israel killed 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Two short-term caisses, in November 2023 and January this year, saw most of the hostages released in exchange for humanitarian aid stimulated in Gaza and the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel.
When the truce of January collapsed in the midst of mutual accusations of violation, Israel interrupted all the aid deliveries and resumed its military offensive aimed at destroying Hamas, to withdraw it from power in Gaza and to save the hostages.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said that a polio vaccination campaign supported by the UN intended to target more than 600,000 children had been suspended, endorsement in danger of rebirth of a paralyzing disease which had once been eradicated.
If polio vaccines do not immediately arrive, “we are planning a real disaster. Children and patients should not be used as political blackmail,” said spokesman for the Ministry of Health Gaza, Khalil Deqran, Khalil Deqran. He said that 60,000 children now have symptoms of malnutrition.
More than 1.5 million polio vaccines were administered during the war after detection of debilitating disease. The vaccinations were carried out in coordination with Israel, which allowed loss in the fighting in certain areas as the inoculations were delivered.
A Palestinian holds a baby as a doctor administering a polio vaccine in a camp for people displaced in Nuseirat in the Gaza Central Strip on February 23, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)
Israel says that his blockade aims to put pressure on the terrorists of Hamas who direct Gaza to release 59 remaining Israeli hostages captured during the attacks of October 2023 which precipitated the war. Hamas says it is ready to release them but only in the context of an agreement that ends the war.
“Israel acts entirely to international law,” wrote Defense Minister Israel Katz on X, in response to the American senator Bernie Sanders, who called the Israeli Gaza blocking since March a war crime.
Unlike the senator’s declaration, Israel acts entirely to international law. The humanitarian state of Gaza is constantly monitored and large amounts of aid have been delivered. Whenever it becomes necessary to allow additional help, you must ensure that … https://t.co/hb0k0yys6j
– ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@israel_katz) April 22, 2025
“The humanitarian condition in Gaza is constantly monitored and large amounts of aid have been delivered. Whenever it becomes necessary to allow additional help, it must be ensured that it does not go through Hamas, which exploits humanitarian aid to maintain control of the civilian population and take advantage at their expense,” Katz wrote.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations UNRWA Palestinian Rescue Agency, described the blockade as a collective punishment for the people of Gaza.
“The seat must be lifted, the supplies must circulate, the hostages must be released, the cease-fire must resume,” said Lazzarini on Tuesday in an article on X.
“Gaza has become a land of despair,” he wrote. “Hunger propagates and deepens, deliberate and armed…. Humanitarian aid is used as a negotiation currency and a weapon of war. ”
The remarks occurred one day after the new American ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged Hamas to accept an agreement which would obtain the release of hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
“When this happens, and the hostages are released, which is an urgent question for all of us, then we hope that humanitarian aid will flow and flow freely knowing that it will be done without Hamas being able to confiscate and abuse their own people,” said Huckabee in a video statement.
Israel accused Hamas of having diverted help from its use, which the Palestinian terrorist group NIE. He blocked all the help in Gaza on March 2, a few days before the start of the renewed offensive. The campaign is designed to put pressure on Hamas to accept Israeli requests for a new hostage release agreement.
