Israeli strikes kill five in Gaza as fragile truce weakens further

After 41 days of an increasingly fragile, near six-week-old truce, Israeli airstrikes killed five people and wounded 18 others in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The violence unfolded against the wider backdrop of the unresolved Palestinian statehood question. More than 150 countries recognise the State of Palestine and it holds non-member observer status at the United Nations, but Israel does not recognise Palestinian statehood, a core political divide that continues to shadow ceasefire efforts even when not formally discussed.

Local officials said one strike hit a house in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, killing three people, including a baby girl, and injuring 15 others. Another strike in nearby Abassan killed one man and wounded three. Later in the day, Nasser Hospital confirmed a fifth fatality caused by Israeli gunfire in Abassan. Israel’s military confirmed carrying out the strikes but said it was not aware of reported civilian casualties.

The latest attacks came a day after Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 25 people, the highest death toll in a single day since October 29, when more than 100 were killed. Israel said those strikes were in response to militant fire targeting its troops. Hamas condemned the attacks as a dangerous escalation and urged Arab mediators, Turkey and the United States, who brokered the truce, to intervene.

Tensions over boundaries and civilian suffering

Hamas accused Israel of shifting the markings that define areas still under Israeli control, claiming that yellow barricades in Shejaia, in eastern Gaza City, had been moved about 100 metres westward. There was no immediate response from Israel regarding the allegation.

In Gaza City’s Zeitoun district, residents searched through the rubble of a building that had sheltered displaced families and was struck a day earlier, killing at least 10 people. Akram Iswair, a resident, said people no longer believed the ceasefire was real, describing daily fear and hopelessness as missiles hit areas sheltering civilians.

Although the October 10 ceasefire has reduced the intensity of fighting, enabled aid deliveries and allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to devastated neighbourhoods, violence has not completely stopped. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli strikes since the truce began have killed 312 people, while Israel says three of its soldiers have died and that it continues to target militant fighters.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in southern Israel and captured 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has since killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Under the truce, Hamas released all 20 living hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas also agreed to hand over the remains of 28 dead hostages, of which 25 sets of remains have so far been returned. Israel, in turn, has returned the bodies of 330 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.