Israeli military operations resulted in the deaths of at least ten Palestinians, including three children, during early Wednesday attacks across Gaza. Hamas has urgently called upon international mediators and guarantor states to intervene against what it describes as daily violations of the ceasefire agreement.
According to a source within Gaza’s ambulance and emergency services who spoke with Al Jazeera Arabic, Israeli artillery strikes targeted the Zaytoun and Tuffah neighborhoods east of Gaza City at dawn, killing seven individuals including two infant girls. Simultaneously, in southern Gaza, the Nasser Medical Complex reported that an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced Palestinians outside Khan Younis, resulting in three additional fatalities including one child.
These developments follow Tuesday’s demolitions conducted by Israeli troops targeting buildings and facilities in areas under their control east of Al-Tuffah. Despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in October of last year, Israeli operations have reportedly killed more than 526 Palestinians and wounded 1,447 others through repeated violations of the truce.
The ceasefire initially halted Israel’s military campaign on Gaza that commenced on October 8, 2023—a conflict that has claimed at least 72,000 Palestinian lives, injured over 171,000, and destroyed or damaged approximately 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure. Thousands more remain buried under rubble according to estimates.
In a separate incident in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed 24-year-old Palestinian man Saeed Nael Saeed al-Sheikh during a Tuesday evening raid in Jericho. Palestinian officials confirmed the death, with Riyad Eid, director of Jericho Governmental Hospital, detailing that al-Sheikh sustained a fatal abdominal gunshot wound causing severe internal damage, including liver rupture. Three other Palestinians suffered injuries of varying severity during the incursion.
Meanwhile, despite an agreement to reopen the Rafah crossing, only forty Palestinians returned to Gaza early Wednesday after significant delays, with Israeli forces implementing rigorous searches, questioning, and movement restrictions. The crossing had reopened on February 2nd on a limited basis for the first time in nearly two years under strict Israeli restrictions. While the agreement anticipated 50 Palestinians returning to Gaza and 50 patients (each with two companions) exiting to Egypt on the first day, actual numbers fell dramatically short with only 12 entries and 8 exits recorded.
Hamas condemned the mistreatment of returnees at Rafah as ‘a crime’ and urged mediators to take immediate action. The group further accused Israel of maintaining severe limitations on humanitarian aid entry despite ceasefire provisions. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem warned that worsening cold-weather conditions are exacerbating the dire situation for displaced families living in tents, while Israel continues to restrict adequate quantities of fuel and cooking gas from entering the territory.