Several Palestinians were injured by gunfire, drone strikes, and artillery shelling in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
Medical sources reported that 10 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army fire in al-Bureij, Nuseirat, and al-Maghraqa in the central Gaza Strip.
In northern Gaza, an Israeli drone strike on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia injured three security guards.
Israeli drones also fired on civilian homes near Salah al-Din Street in the Shuja'iyya and Tuffah neighbourhoods, east of Gaza City, injuring more Palestinians.
In cetral Gaza, the Israeli occupation army shelled Deir al-Balah and east of Khan Younis, where it also carried out five demolition operations, Palestinian media reported.
Despite a ceasefire in effect since 11 October, Israel has continued its assault on the strip, killing at least 1,098 Palestinians and injuring 3,535 others. This raised the overall death toll since the outbreak fo Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023 to, at minimum, 73,221, with 173,643 people wounded.
Board of Peace proposes controversial 'humanitarian zone'
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump's post-war plan for Gaza has stalled as Israel refuses to move to the next phase of the ceasefire agreement after recovering its captives, while continuing to insist that Hamas disarm before any political transition.
The delays have also hampered the deployment of an international stabilization force (ISF) envisioned under the plan. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing a US military official and other sources, reported that the body overseeing the initiative has struggled to deploy even about 20 personnel, far short of the 20,000 originally envisaged for the force.
According to the report, the initial contingent was expected to travel from Gaza to Israel for training before being stationed near the Karm Abu Salem crossing, where it would receive equipment and begin reconnaissance missions to assess roads and security conditions inside the enclave.
In parallel, officials from the Board of Peace, the US-led body overseeing Gaza's proposed post-war administration, briefed reporters on plans to establish a humanitarian pilot zone in the Rafah area last week. The initiative would see Israeli forces withdraw from the designated area and be replaced by the ISF, and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a Palestinian technocratic committee, would begin administering civilian affairs.
Under the proposal, the NCAG would work alongside the ISF to screen Palestinians going from the so-called “red zone” into the “green zone,” an area that, to this day, is being occupied by Israeli forces.
Additionally, while Board of Peace officials maintained that Palestinians will be allowed to enter and exit the humanitarian zone and that they will not be under Israeli occupation, Israeli media said the humanitarian zone would still effectively be controlled by the occupation army, which will be present on its outskirts.
However, with the NCAG barred from entry by the Israeli forces and the ISF yet to be deployed, the controversial plan remains on paper, especially as it requires the approval of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has sought to expand the areas it occupies, rather than withdraw, in a series of blatant violations of the ceasefire.
Palestinian analysts have had much to say about the second phase of the ceasefire and the Board of Peace’s proposed plan.
Israeli affairs analyst Muhannad Mustafa told Al Jazeera that Israel's position reflects a broader effort to maintain its military presence in Gaza and delay any transfer of governance to a proposed technocratic committee.
"Allowing the ISF into Gaza would require Israeli troops to withdraw and hand administration of the territory to the technocratic committee, effectively ending the war and shifting to a political process," Mustafa said.
He argued that Israel is instead consolidating its military presence and expanding its control over parts of Gaza while increasingly placing humanitarian aid and relief operations under security oversight.
Mustafa also said delaying the second phase of the ceasefire leaves open the possibility of renewed military operations. He pointed to recent statements by Netanyahu encouraging Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza to do so, as well as reports that Israel has reactivated a Defence Ministry body focused on facilitating Palestinian emigration.
He added that extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also called for the construction of Israeli settlements in northern Gaza.
Palestinian political analyst Iyad al-Qarra told Al Jazeera the NCAG, which is responsible for implementing the plan, lacks a clear strategy and remains constrained by Israeli conditions, particularly the demand for Hamas to disarm.
He said the council has ignored Palestinian proposals aimed at advancing the ceasefire to its second phase while overlooking what he described as repeated Israeli violations of the agreement.
Al-Qarra said he does not expect the ISF to be deployed, the proposed humanitarian zone to be established, or the NCAG to enter Gaza.
Short link: