Israel’s military has launched air strikes in Gaza in the latest test of a ceasefire that began on October 10. Health officials in Gaza have reported at least 24 people killed and 54 wounded, including children.
The strikes on Saturday, which Israel said were in response to gunfire directed at its soldiers, came amid renewed international momentum on Gaza after the United Nations Security Council on Monday approved a United States blueprint to secure and govern the territory.
It authorises an international stabilisation force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by US President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path towards an independent Palestinian state.
One of Saturday’s strikes targeted a vehicle, killing 11 Palestinians and wounding more than 20 in Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of al-Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The majority of the wounded were children, hospital Director Muhammad Abu Salmiya said.
A strike targeting a house near al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza killed at least three people and wounded 11, and one more strike on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least seven people, including a child, and wounded 16, according to the hospital.
Another strike, targeting a house in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, killed three people, including a woman, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Israel has violated the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire at least 497 times in 44 days, killing hundreds of Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
The attacks have killed 342 civilians with children, women and the elderly accounting for the majority of the victims.
Israel continues to heavily restrict the full and free flow of desperately needed aid and medical supplies into the devastated enclave, as mandated in the ceasefire.
Hamas accused Israel on Saturday of violating the truce “under fabricated pretexts” and called on mediators – the US, Egypt and Qatar – to intervene immediately.
