Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed 33 people, including 12 children and eight women, in one of the most serious escalations since the US-backed ceasefire took effect last month, medical officials said. The strikes hit tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis and residential areas in Gaza City.
Officials at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis reported receiving the bodies of 17 people, among them five women and five children, after four Israeli airstrikes targeted tents. In Gaza City, two airstrikes killed 16 people, including seven children and three women, according to medical officials.
Israel said it launched the attacks after its soldiers came under fire in Khan Younis on Wednesday, though no Israeli casualties were reported. Hamas condemned the strikes as a “shocking massacre” and denied firing toward Israeli troops. Since the ceasefire began, more than 300 people have been killed by Israeli strikes, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Palestinians expressed despair over the renewed violence. “My daughter kept asking me all night, ‘Will the war come back?’ Every time we try to regain hope, the shelling starts again. When will this nightmare end?” said Lina Kuraz, 33, from Gaza City. Mohammed Hamdouna, 36, displaced to a tent in al-Mawasi, said, “The intensity of the death toll has decreased, but martyrs and shelling happen every day.”
Qatar, a key mediator, condemned the “brutal” airstrikes as “a dangerous escalation that threatens to undermine the ceasefire agreement.” The UN Security Council recently endorsed a plan for Gaza, but challenges remain, including Hamas’s weapons, a peacekeeping force, and aid restrictions. The two-year war began with a Hamas attack in October 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted; more than 69,000 Palestinians have since died.
