Palestinians gather at the site where a vehicle was targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on June 18, 2026. AFP
On Thursday, three Palestinians were killed and others wounded in an Israeli airstrike targeting the al-Rimal neighbourhood west of Gaza City.
Medical sources said the victims were killed when an Israeli drone struck a civilian vehicle near Abu Khadra Mosque in the same area.
Since the announcement of the ceasefire in October, more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured, according to local reports.
Beyond the continued strikes, Israel has also expanded its military presence in Gaza. Under the first phase of the ceasefire brokered by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States, Israeli forces were expected to withdraw to a zone demarcated by a “yellow line.”
However, within weeks of the ceasefire taking effect on October 10, Israeli troops advanced further west and now control at least 60% of the territory, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.
The transition to the second phase of the agreement, which was intended to include a full Israeli withdrawal, has been stalled for months.
The expansion has left nearly the entire population of Gaza—more than two million people—confined to overcrowded tented areas dependent on humanitarian aid. Large parts of the enclave have been leveled by bulldozing and demolitions, including extensive agricultural land now inaccessible to Palestinians.
The exact boundaries of the so-called “yellow line” remain unclear. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel aims to maintain control over up to 70% of Gaza.
According to the Israeli rights group Gisha, Israel currently controls approximately 194 square kilometers (75 square miles) of the Gaza Strip.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday urged Israel to abandon its plan to take control of 70 percent of Gaza, as he attended the G7 summit in France.
"Only 30 percent of the Strip is effectively left for the Palestinian people," El-Sisi said, at a G7 summit session on Middle East stability in the French resort of Evian.
This approach "must stop immediately," he added at the session which was also attended by G7 and EU leaders as well as the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
El-Sisi said there was "no alternative to reaching a just and lasting settlement to the Palestinian cause based on the two-state solution" and urged "the implementation of US President Donald Trump's plan for peace in the Gaza Strip".
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