Israeli air and ground strikes in Gaza killed at least 19 Palestinians, mostly women and children, by midday Wednesday, hospital officials said, amid rising tensions following a militant attack on Israeli troops.
Among the dead were five children—including a 5-month-old and a 10-day-old infant—seven women, and a paramedic, according to Gaza’s Shifa and Nasser hospitals. The casualties mark the latest fatalities in Gaza since a U.S.-backed ceasefire, effective from Oct. 10, 2025, which has repeatedly been punctuated by deadly Israeli strikes. More than 530 Palestinians have been killed during this period, the Gaza health ministry reported.
“The genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip continues,” said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Shifa Hospital, in a Facebook post. “Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?”
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel would continue targeting sites in Gaza. The military has defended its strikes since the ceasefire by citing militant attacks on Israeli soldiers or Hamas violations. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began.
Early Wednesday, Israeli troops fired on a building in Gaza’s Tuffah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people, mostly from the same family. The victims included two parents, their 10-day-old daughter, her 5-month-old cousin, and their grandmother. The military said its forces returned fire after militants opened fire on Israeli troops, seriously wounding a reservist. Israel described the attack as a violation of the ceasefire deal.
Subsequent strikes hit multiple areas across Gaza. An Israeli attack on a family tent in southern Khan Younis killed three people, including a 12-year-old boy, according to Nasser Hospital. Tank shelling in Zaytoun, eastern Gaza City, killed another three Palestinians, including a husband and wife, Shifa Hospital said. A strike on a tent in Muwasi, Khan Younis, killed at least two people and injured five others, including Hussein Hassan Hussein al-Semieri, a paramedic with the Palestinian Red Crescent, the field hospital reported.
Since the start of the conflict, over 71,800 Palestinians have been killed, the Gaza health ministry said, without specifying civilian or militant numbers. The ministry, run by Hamas, maintains detailed casualty records considered generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.