Health authorities in Gaza have said that Israeli air strikes killed four people as Qatar warned that renewed attacks threatened to undermine the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The strikes came after one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the truce came into effect on 10 October, and after Israel launched a string of attacks targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon despite the nearly year-long ceasefire there.
Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza said that four people were killed early today, after the territory's civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority, gave a lower toll of three dead.
The hospital said that three members of one family, including a one-year-old girl, died in a strike on a house east of the city and one more person was killed in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, also east of Khan Younis.
A source at Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry, who did not wish to be identified, said that artillery fire was continuing in the area.
Qatar, a key mediator in the Hamas-Israel war, condemned what it called the "brutal" Israeli air strikes, saying they were "a dangerous escalation that threatens to undermine the ceasefire agreement".
Gazans voiced despair at the fresh wave of attacks, saying it felt like the two-year war was continuing.
"We are worried about the war returning. The sound of artillery shelling and explosions from the demolition operations east of Gaza was terrifying last night," 33-year-old Lina Kuraz, from the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, said.
"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?"
'The war hasn't ended' - Gaza resident
A so-called yellow line demarcates the boundary inside Gaza that Israeli troops have withdrawn behind, as part of the US-brokered ceasefire.
"We are aware of a strike east of the yellow line that was done to dismantle terror infrastructures," the Israeli military said.
"We're not aware of the reported casualties. It's part of the regular IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) operations east of the yellow line."
Israel has carried out repeated strikes against what it says are Hamas targets during the ceasefire, resulting in the death of more than 312 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Yesterday's attacks on the territory left 27 people dead, according to the civil defence agency.
"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 appeals to mediators
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."
The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,221 people.
Israel's retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,546 people, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
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".
