According to AP News, Israeli airstrikes struck multiple areas across Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 24 Palestinians, including two infants, according to local health officials, as a fragile ceasefire continued to come under strain. Israel said the attacks targeted militant leaders and were carried out in response to a Hamas assault that seriously wounded one of its soldiers.
Hospital officials said the dead included at least five children, seven women, and an on-duty paramedic. The renewed violence has raised fears that the truce, which began in October, is steadily unraveling.
“Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?” said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, in a social media post.
Israeli officials said three militant leaders, including members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, were killed in the strikes. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the attacks were carried out in response to gunfire that badly wounded a reservist earlier in the day.
One of the deadliest strikes hit a building in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood, killing at least 11 members of the same family, including a 10-day-old baby and a 5-month-old infant, according to Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military said the strike was a real-time response to militant fire.
Additional strikes hit a tent in Khan Younis’ Muwasi area, killing three people and wounding several others, including a paramedic on duty, health officials said. Israel said the attack targeted a Hamas platoon commander involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 assault that sparked the war.
Separate strikes in southern Gaza and the Al-Shati refugee camp killed at least four more people, including a 12-year-old boy, according to hospital officials. Israel said the targets posed an immediate threat to its forces.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 38 people were wounded in Wednesday’s attacks.
Fighting has continued sporadically since the ceasefire took effect in October, despite efforts to halt the more than two-year-old conflict that began with Hamas’ attack on southern Israel in 2023. Gaza health officials say more than 550 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, about half of them women and children. Israel says four of its soldiers have died during the same period.
Egypt and Qatar, key mediators in the negotiations, along with several Arab and Muslim countries, have criticized what they describe as repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, movement through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt remains limited. Palestinian aid groups reported delays and restrictions on medical evacuations, with many patients and relatives turned back in recent days.
Despite ongoing violence, some parts of the ceasefire agreement have progressed. Hamas has released all remaining hostages, while Israel has freed thousands of Palestinian detainees. Humanitarian aid deliveries have increased, and interim administrative arrangements have been established in Gaza.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it helped facilitate the return of dozens of Palestinian bodies on Wednesday, as forensic teams began identifying remains of those still missing.
However, major elements of the deal, including Gaza’s reconstruction, the disarmament of militant groups, and the deployment of international security forces, remain stalled.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251 others. More than 71,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and fighters but are considered broadly reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts.