Israel carried out a series of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, marking the latest major challenge to the ceasefire that began on October 10. Health officials in Gaza said at least 24 people were killed and 54 others injured, including many children.
The strikes came as global attention intensified on Gaza following Monday’s U.N. Security Council approval of a U.S.-backed plan for stabilizing and governing the territory. The roadmap allows for an international security force, a transitional authority under President Donald Trump, and the possibility of a future independent Palestinian state.
Israel has launched similar attacks during earlier flare-ups in the truce. Health officials said at least 33 Palestinians — mostly women and children — were killed during a 12-hour escalation on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Saturday, one strike hit a vehicle in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, killing 11 people and wounding more than 20, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of Shifa Hospital. Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said most of the wounded were children. AP footage showed residents examining the charred vehicle with its roof blown off.
Another strike on a home near Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza killed at least three people and injured 11. A separate strike on a house in Nuseirat camp killed seven, including a child, and wounded 16 others. Al-Aqsa Hospital confirmed three more deaths — including a woman — from a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah.
Residents described scenes of terror. “I heard a huge explosion and the whole area filled with smoke,” said Khalil Abu Hatab of Deir al-Balah. “The upper floor of my neighbor’s house was gone. This ceasefire is so fragile — there is no safe place.”
Israel’s military said the strikes followed an incident in which an “armed terrorist” crossed into an Israeli-controlled zone in southern Gaza and opened fire, though no soldiers were injured. The military said the crossing occurred on a route used for humanitarian aid deliveries, calling it a severe breach of the ceasefire.
The army also said its forces killed five militants in Rafah and two others in northern Gaza after separate attempts to cross into Israeli-held areas.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Most hostages or their remains have since been returned under various ceasefire deals.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says 69,733 Palestinians have been killed and 170,863 wounded since Israel’s retaliatory offensive began. Officials say the toll continues to rise during the ceasefire due to new strikes and the recovery of bodies from earlier bombardments.
The ministry does not separate civilian and combatant deaths but says women and children form the majority of those killed. Its casualty records, maintained by medical staff under the Hamas-run administration, are widely considered credible by independent analysts.