A pair of Israeli strikes in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis early today killed five people, according to hospital officials, bringing the death toll from airstrikes in the Palestinian territory from Israeli attacks over a roughly 12-hour period to 33.
The strikes have been some of the deadliest since 10 October, when a US-brokered ceasefire came into force.
The renewed escalation came after Israel claimed its soldiers had come under fire in Khan Younis yesterday. Israel said no soldiers were killed and responded with strikes.
Officials at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said they received the bodies of 17 people, including five women and five children, following four Israeli airstrikes targeting tents sheltering displaced people.
In Gaza City, two airstrikes on a building killed 16 people, including seven children and three women, according to officials at the Al-Shifa hospital in the northern part of the city, where the bodies were taken.
Hamas condemned the Israeli strikes as a "shocking massacre".
In a statement, the group denied firing toward Israeli troops.
Hospital officials said the bodies came from both sides of a line established in last month’s ceasefire.
The boundary splits Gaza in two, leaving the border zone under Israeli military control while the area beyond it is meant to serve as a safe zone.
Israeli strikes have decreased since the ceasefire agreement took effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, though they have not stopped entirely.
The ministry reported more than 300 deaths since the truce began, an average of more than seven per day.
Each side has accused the other of violating its terms, which include increasing the flow of aid into Gaza and returning hostages - dead or alive - to Israel.
The deaths are among the more than 69,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since 7 October 2023.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the 7 October 2023 attack that triggered the current stage of the war.
Gaza’s Health Ministry maintains detailed records seen as a reliable estimate by the UN and many independent experts.
'The war hasn't ended' - Gaza resident
"The war hasn't ended. Nothing has really changed," said 36-year-old Mohammed Hamdouna, who was displaced from northern Gaza to a tent in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.
"The intensity of the death toll has decreased, but martyrs and shelling happen every day.
"We are still living in tents. The cities are rubble, the crossings are still closed, and all the basic necessities of life are still lacking," he added.
Hamas urged US President Donald Trump and other international mediators of the truce to put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks.
"This violation requires serious and effective action from the mediators to pressure (Israel) to stop these violations and uphold the ceasefire agreement," Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the militant group said.
"The occupation is acting with blatant disregard to the mediators' efforts."
Israel also conducted several strikes in southern Lebanon yesterday.
The military said it targeted Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in several towns and accused the Iran-backed group of trying to rebuild its capabilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew a rebuke from Syria and others in the region after visiting Israeli troops deployed in a buffer zone inside the country.
WHO sets target of 40,000 vaccinations for Gazan children
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it aims to vaccinate more than 40,000 children against various diseases in Gaza, as it takes advantage of the ceasefire.
The WHO and its partners already vaccinated over 10,000 children under the age of three in the first eight days of an initial phase of the campaign launched on 9 November.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that phase one of the programme has been extended until Saturday and hoped to protect children against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus and pneumonia.
Phases two and three of the campaign - which is being conducted in collaboration with UNICEF, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and the health ministry in Gaza - are planned for December and January.
Dr Tedros said that he was "encouraged to see that the ceasefire continues to hold, as it allows the WHO and its partners to intensify essential health services across Gaza and support the necessary re-equipment and reconstruction of its devastated health system".
Additional reporting AFP
