A series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday resulted in one of the single deadliest days of violence since the implementation of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, with hospital officials reporting at least 26 Palestinian fatalities. The casualties included six children, underscoring the severe human cost of the renewed hostilities.
The offensive targeted multiple locations spanning from the north to the south of the besieged territory. Strikes hit a residential apartment building in Gaza City and a tent encampment in the city of Khan Younis, with additional bombardments reported in the eastern sector of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Concurrently, the Israeli military issued new expulsion orders for a building in Khan Younis, forcing further civilian displacements.
According to medical authorities at Al-Shifa Hospital, an early morning strike on a family home in Gaza City killed three children, their aunt, and their grandmother. The children’s mother was reported to have survived the attack. In a separate incident, a strike on a tent camp ignited a fierce fire, with Nasser Hospital confirming the deaths of seven individuals from a single family, including a father, his three children, and three grandchildren.
In one of the deadliest single events, an attack on a local police station resulted in the deaths of at least 11 officers, among them four policewomen, and several inmates who were being held at the facility.
This escalation occurred on the eve of the scheduled reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a critical conduit for humanitarian aid and movement. Since the tentative truce between Israel and Hamas took effect in October, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has documented over 500 Palestinian deaths and at least 1,412 injuries, with the majority of victims being civilians.