Israeli airstrikes swept across Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 32 Palestinians including children and women, the Hamas-run civil defence agency reported.
Raids hit tents for displaced families in Khan Younis, flats in Gaza City, and a police station. Rescuers recovered seven bodies from one family in the south as smoke rose over rubble-strewn ruins.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strikes, targeting militants emerging from tunnels. “Eight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah,” they stated, where Israeli troops hold positions under the October ceasefire.
Strikes also eliminated “four commanders and additional terrorists,” weapons stores, production sites, and “two launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip.” Hamas denounced the attacks, urging U.S. action and claiming these ongoing violations prove Israel’s “brutal war of genocide against the strip.”
At Shifa Hospital, medics treated victims from a bombed flat, including three girls and two women. “We found my three little nieces in the street. They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?” said their uncle Samer al-Atbash, quoted by Reuters.
The incident is the deadliest since the 10 October 2025 truce began, with 509 Palestinian deaths since then and four Israeli soldiers killed. The Rafah crossing to Egypt reopens Sunday after Israel recovered its last hostage’s body this week.
Egypt condemned the strikes and urged restraint as Qatar decried “repeated Israeli violations.” The Trump-brokered deal’s phase one delivered hostage swaps, partial withdrawal, and aid in October 2025. Phase two, announced by envoy Steve Witkoff in January, promises a technocratic Palestinian government, reconstruction, and Hamas disarmament.
The war followed Hamas’s 7 October 2023 assault killing 1,200 in southern Israel and abducting 251. Gaza’s health ministry reports over 71,660 deaths—a toll exceeding 70,000 now accepted by Israel—deemed reliable by the UN and media despite access restrictions.