At least ten people died after Israeli attacks on a refugee camp in Gaza, and Al Jazeera's journalist Mohammed Wishah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. An Israeli airstrike and tank shelling killed six Palestinians, including two women and a girl, in Gaza City on Sunday, according to health officials. These incidents underscore the ongoing lethal operations in the territory.
Gaza health officials report at least 650 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire, about half women and children. Over 72,200 Palestinians have been killed in the war triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israeli strikes in Gaza have continued at an average of around 10 per day over the last five months, even during bombing campaigns in Iran and Lebanon, multiple reports indicate. At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by airstrikes since the outbreak of war with Iran on 28 February, health officials said.
The Israeli military alleged that Wishah was a 'Hamas terrorist' and posed a threat to its forces, carrying out the strike for that reason. The IDF confirmed targeting Wishah, accusing him of being a key terrorist in Hamas' rocket and weapons production and planning attacks against IDF troops. These claims form the basis of Israel's justification for the lethal action against a member of the press.
Al Jazeera and Hamas have previously denied that Wishah was affiliated with Hamas. This denial creates a direct contradiction with the Israeli military's assertions, highlighting the contentious nature of the incident and raising questions about the evidence behind the targeting.
What specific evidence the Israeli military has to support its claim that journalist Mohammed Wishah was a Hamas terrorist involved in weapons production remains unclear. The lack of publicly disclosed proof leaves a gap in understanding the rationale for the strike on a media professional.
Pro-Israel Palestinian militias have launched raids, assassination, and abduction operations inside Hamas-controlled parts of Gaza in recent months, according to multiple reports. The pro-Israel militias are based in eastern Gaza under Israeli control and have received logistic support from Israel since last year, sources said. The most powerful Israeli-backed militias are the Popular Forces (based around Rafah) and the Strike Force Against Terror (east of Khan Younis), both striking into Hamas-controlled territory recently, reports indicate.
A pro-Israeli militia, the Ashraf al-Mansi group, sent fighters across the yellow line dividing zones of control in Gaza last week on a mission to ambush Hamas patrols and possibly assassinate senior Hamas figures, multiple sources report. Hamas officials said it foiled an attempt by the Ashraf al-Mansi group amid fighting in the Nasser neighbourhood of Gaza City. Two weeks ago, the Ashraf al-Mansi group clashed with Hamas fighters in Jabalya, on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, according to reports. Israel has tasked militias with security duties in its controlled zone and deployed armed men from the Popular Forces at the Rafah crossing to Egypt, sources added.
How many pro-Israel militias are currently operating in Gaza, and what is their exact relationship and coordination with the Israeli military are not fully known. This suggests a growing but opaque network of local forces aligned with Israeli interests.
Recent specific attacks include a strike on a residential property in Nuseirat camp that killed four: a couple in their thirties, their 10-year-old son, and a 15-year-old neighbour, with the woman pregnant with twins, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. A separate Israeli strike targeted a police vehicle on the Salah al-Din route, killing eight police officers, including Colonel Iyad Ab Yousef, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry reported. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant in response to an earlier incident where a militant opened fire at troops.
Clashes broke out near a school when members of an Israel-backed militia tried to remove suspected Hamas members, witness accounts to AFP stated. Strikes targeted Hamas security personnel who had clashed with members of the militia east of Maghazi refugee camp, according to two sources. Witnesses said members of the Israel-backed militia set up a checkpoint east of Maghazi, came under attack from Hamas, triggering clashes, and Israeli drones intervened to support the militia.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, with people queuing for food amid ruins, muddy waters in displacement camps, and higher prices for essentials since the war on Iran began, multiple reports indicate. Amnesty International reports a deliberate collapse of healthcare and catastrophic living conditions for women and girls in Gaza. The healthcare system in Gaza is paralyzed, with hospitals destroyed, shortages of medicines, and practices like placing multiple infants in one incubator, sources said. Thousands of pregnant or breastfeeding women suffer acute malnutrition, and childbirth occurs in precarious conditions in displacement camps, according to UN estimates.
Rafah is the site of Gaza’s only border crossing that does not lead into Israel, serving as a vital lifeline for humanitarian aid, research indicates. The UN human rights office warned of a pattern of ill-treatment, abuse and humiliation of returnees by Israeli forces and armed Palestinians allegedly backed by the Israeli military at the Rafah crossing. Palestinian authorities have demanded the immediate reopening of the Rafah crossing, a key provision of the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement.
What is the current status of the Rafah crossing, and what are the main obstacles to its reopening for humanitarian aid are uncertain. This illustrates the aid blockade's impact.
The US-brokered ceasefire has been in place for more than three months, though both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of repeated violations, research shows. Washington announced earlier this month that the agreement had entered its second phase, intended to bring a definitive end to the conflict. The attacks were the latest Israeli violation of the ceasefire agreement that halted Israel’s two-year war, according to research.
What are the specific terms and violations of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement, and how are they being monitored or enforced remain unclear. This ambiguity complicates efforts to hold parties accountable and assess compliance with the peace process.
Additional recent incidents include three Palestinians killed in a clash with settlers in the West Bank on Sunday, bringing recent deaths to six, multiple reports indicate. At least three Palestinian women were killed and eight injured after missile debris hit a beauty salon in Beit Awwa, West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported. The incident occurred after the Israeli military said Iran fired missiles towards it, which it was intercepting. Israeli naval gunboats chased fishing vessels and opened heavy machine-gun fire on fishermen off Rafah’s shoreline, Wafa reported, with no immediate casualties reported from the naval gunfire incident, research confirms. Alaa Radwan's home in Gaza was destroyed by Israeli bombing, discovered via a WhatsApp photo from a neighbour, and she fled Palestine in 2024 after nearby airstrikes and is now living in Egypt, planning to study in the UK, sources said. The Israeli army told Alaa and her family to evacuate on October 13, and they were displaced to Deir Al-balah.
The Israeli military states that it will investigate the incident involving clashes near a school. The Israeli army claimed that the attacks targeted what it called Hamas members across the Gaza Strip.
Casualty figures show contradictions in reported numbers. Over 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in more than two years of Israeli onslaught in Gaza, local health authorities state, aligning with earlier figures. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian groups over the same period, the Israeli military said. Israeli shelling and drone strikes killed at least five people and wounded 11 others on Friday in Gaza, Palestinian and Israeli officials said. The latest bloodshed unfolded in central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp and the southern city of Rafah, research indicates. In Maghazi, two Palestinian men were killed when a drone strike struck its targets, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. In Rafah, Israel’s military said its air force killed three 'terrorists' after a group of eight individuals emerged from an underground location. Six Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces shelled a tent housing displaced families in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, according to sources at al-Helal field hospital and Nasser Hospital cited by Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Hani al-Shaer, with a pregnant woman among those wounded, Anadolu news agency reported. Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, including a woman, and wounded others in fresh attacks on Tuesday, medical sources said. Two Palestinians were killed in a drone strike targeting an electric bike near al-Masdar village in the central Gaza Strip, the sources said. An Israeli drone also opened fire in the same village, killing a woman, the sources added. In Khan Younis, Israeli gunfire killed one Palestinian and wounded four others in the western al-Satar area, medics said. A fifth Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire near the Halawa displacement camp in Jabalia in northern Gaza, research shows. Two children were injured when an Israeli drone dropped a bomb in northern Gaza, according to research. The targeted areas lie outside zones under Israeli military control as defined by the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the sources added. Discrepancies exist in casualty counts, with some sources reporting at least 723 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire, others citing 492 or 581 deaths, and conflicting figures on Israeli soldier deaths, highlighting inconsistencies in data that affect understanding of the conflict's scale.