Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 24 Palestinians, including seven children, across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, in a surge of violence that threatens to further unravel a nearly four-month-old ceasefire.
Among the dead was a medic who had rushed to treat casualties in the southern city of Khan Younis and was killed by a subsequent strike on the same location, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which operates under Hamas authorities. In Gaza City, health officials said a five-month-old boy was killed. At least 38 others were wounded.
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The Israeli military said it launched the strikes after militants opened fire at Israeli troops operating near the armistice line, severely injuring one soldier. It said it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians “as much as possible.” Hamas said the escalation undermined efforts to stabilize the truce and called for immediate international pressure to halt violations.
“While we were sleeping in our house, the tank shelled us and the shells hit our house, our children were martyred — my son was martyred, my brother’s son and daughter were martyred … We have nothing to do with anything, we are peaceful people,” said Abu Mohamed Habouch, speaking at a funeral in Khan Younis.
Strikes also tore through the coastal Al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis, where tents sheltering displaced families were ripped apart, residents said. Nearly all of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have been forced from their homes since the war began.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was “outraged” by the killing of an on-duty colleague and identified him as Hussein Hassan Hussein Al-Samiri, a Palestine Red Crescent Society paramedic “killed while performing life-saving humanitarian duties in Khan Younis during an attack in the Al-Mawasi area.” The federation said Al-Samiri’s death brings to 30 the number of PRCS staff and volunteers killed in Gaza in the line of duty since October 2023, and reiterated that medical workers must be protected at all times.
The latest attacks came three days after Israel reopened the Rafah crossing with Egypt — a key provision of the U.S.-backed truce — but the flow of people remained fitful. Palestinian patients preparing to cross into Egypt on Tuesday were told their passage was postponed, before being instructed hours later to proceed.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing access to Gaza, said the crossing remained open but that it had not received necessary coordination details from the World Health Organization to facilitate patient transfers. An Egyptian security official said efforts were underway to restore routine movement and that Israel had cited security concerns in the Rafah area as the reason for the disruption.
Gazan medics said 16 patients and 40 escorts crossed into Egypt on Monday, while a Hamas police official said at least 40 people entered Gaza from Egypt late the same day. Tuesday’s fatalities bring to 29 the number of Palestinians killed since the border reopened, according to a tally by Gaza health officials. On Saturday, before the reopening, Israeli strikes killed more than 30 people in the enclave.
In January, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the start of the second phase of the ceasefire, under which the sides would negotiate Gaza’s governance and reconstruction. Key issues remain unresolved, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from more than half of the territory and the disarmament of Hamas. Despite the truce, violence has persisted almost daily.
Since the start of the ceasefire, Israeli fire has killed at least 530 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli soldiers during the same period, Israeli authorities say.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli military operations have killed more than 71,000 Palestinians in the territory since October 2023, displaced most of the population and left large swaths of the strip in ruins. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the latest stage of the war killed around 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
