The strikes, among the deadliest since the 10 October ceasefire, hit multiple sites across the Gaza Strip, including an apartment building in Gaza City, a tent camp for displaced people in Khan Younis, and a police station.
Hospital officials said six children and two women from two families were killed in the latest attacks. In Khan Younis, an air strike sparked a fire at a tent camp, killing a father, his three children, and three grandchildren. In Gaza City, an apartment building strike killed three children, their aunt, and their grandmother. A separate strike on a police station killed at least 14 people, including four policewomen, along with several civilians, medical sources said.
In its latest toll, the Palestinian health ministry said 31 Palestinians, including seven children, were killed in Saturday’s strikes alone.
The ministry stated that the latest attacks formed part of a wider pattern of ceasefire violations since the truce took effect, reporting more than 1,450 Israeli violations and at least 1,850 Palestinian casualties over the period.
Since the Israel-Hamas truce went into effect—brokered by Cairo, Doha, Ankara, and Washington—Tel Aviv has killed at least 520 Palestinians in the strip, per the Palestinian health ministry.
In a statement, the spokesperson for the Palestinian resistance group, Hazem Qassem, rejected Israel’s claim that the strikes were carried out in response to alleged ceasefire violations by the group.
“These attacks are nothing more than an attempt by Israel to justify its continuous war crimes against our people,” Qassem said, adding that Israel was using accusations of ceasefire violations as a pretext to cover up its systemic targeting of civilians.
“Israel’s actions are not about security—they are about continuing its brutal occupation and genocidal policies against the Palestinian people,” he added.
Smoke rises from the Gath shelter, housing displaced Palestinians, after an Israeli air strike in the west of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip. AFP
The strikes came a day before the planned, limited reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the enclave’s main outlet for medical evacuations and humanitarian access. Gaza’s crossings have remained largely closed by Israel since the outbreak of Tel Aviv's genocidal war on the strip, leaving most of the enclave's medical infrastructure damaged or inoperable.
The reopening of the crossing, though initially limited, offers hope for thousands of Palestinians in need of medical treatment outside Gaza, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed by Israel’s relentless bombardment.
Reopening Rafah marks a key step in the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire, which also includes discussions on Gaza’s reconstruction and Israeli demands for demilitarization, a matter the international community has remained largely silent on. Hamas has rejected calls to disarm, saying it will not relinquish weapons without an end to Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, called on the international community, particularly the United States and the United Nations, to take immediate action to halt Israel’s attacks. “The international community has failed to stop the bloodshed in Gaza. We are dealing with a ‘Board of War,’ not a ‘Board of Peace,’” Naim said, accusing international mediators of hypocrisy for failing to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law.
“If the international community truly cared about peace, they would force Israel to stop these airstrikes and hold its leaders accountable for their crimes,” he added.
In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry condemned the repeted Israeli strikes on Gaza, stressing they were fuelling tensions at a time when regional and international actors are working to ensure the success of the second phase of a ceasefire framework proposed by US President Donald Trump.
Cairo stressed the need to adhere to the agreement’s next phase and to implement United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2803, warning that continued violations threaten the political process and obstruct efforts to move Gaza toward greater security and humanitarian stability.
The ministry said the latest attacks could derail attempts to create conditions for early recovery and reconstruction in the enclave, calling on all parties to uphold their obligations and exercise restraint to preserve the ceasefire.
Israel's violence continues to devastate Gaza’s population, with hospitals overwhelmed and medical supplies running dangerously low.
Despite repeated calls for de-escalation, Israel’s airstrikes have inflicted widespread destruction, particularly on residential neighborhoods and vital infrastructure. Gaza’s civilian population, already reeling from years of siege and blockade and a two-year genocidal war, is once again facing the horrors of indiscriminate military attacks.
Hamas has repeatedly warned that the international community’s failure to halt Israel’s violations risks undermining any hopes for a meaningful ceasefire or peace agreement.
As Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deepens, the prospect of a lasting ceasefire appears increasingly uncertain, with Israel’s relentless attacks on Palestinian civilians continuing unabated.
Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, urged the international community to scale up efforts to alleviate the suffering in Gaza. She emphasized the need for Israel to ease restrictions on critical supplies such as water pipes and generators to restore basic infrastructure. “Many people in Gaza are still living in the rubble without basic services, struggling to stay warm amid harsh winter conditions,” Spoljaric said.
“Hospitals, homes, schools, and water systems need to be repaired, and unexploded ordnance must be cleared,” she added.
Between mid-March and late June 2025, Israel enforced a deadly land, sea, and air blockade on Gaza, banning the entry of food, fuel, medicine, baby formula, and other essential aid, starving at least 453 Palestinians in Gaza to death.
The United Nations (UN)-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine conditions in parts of Gaza in August 2025, warning that shortages were spreading across the territory. Aid groups say deliveries since the ceasefire began remain far below what is required to meet basic needs.
“International humanitarian law must be upheld,” Spoljaric said. “This is essential for saving lives and restoring human dignity.”
Since the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, its forces have killed at least 71,769 Palestinians and injured at least 171,483 others, most of them women and children.
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