Israel launched fresh airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, with Palestinian officials reporting at least 11 deaths, as Israel said the action was in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas amid a fragile truce.
Israel carried out airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 11 Palestinians, Palestinian officials said, as the Israeli military described the strikes as a response to ceasefire violations by Hamas amid a fragile truce.
Gaza medics said an Israeli strike on a tent encampment sheltering displaced families killed at least four people. Health officials said another strike killed five people in Khan Younis in the south, while one person was shot dead in the north.
Airstrikes also targeted what was believed to be a commander of Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, in the Tel Al-Hawa area of Gaza City.
Hamas accuses Israel of ceasefire breach
Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, accused Israel of carrying out a new “massacre” against displaced Palestinians and called it a serious breach of the ceasefire days before the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
An Israeli military official said the strikes were “precise” and conducted in accordance with international law, adding that Hamas had repeatedly violated an October ceasefire.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for breaches of the truce, a key element of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, the deadliest and most destructive phase of the decades-old Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
The war began with the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures. Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 people since then, according to Palestinian health ministry data.
Israeli military cites tunnel movement
“In recent hours, the Israel Defense Forces has begun strikes in response to Hamas’s blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement yesterday in the Beit Hanoun area,” an Israeli military official said.
The official said militants emerged from a tunnel on the Israeli side of the “Yellow Line” established under the ceasefire to demarcate Israeli- and Hamas-controlled areas.
“Crossing the Yellow Line in the vicinity of IDF troops while armed is an explicit ceasefire violation and demonstrates how Hamas systematically violates the agreement with intent to harm IDF troops,” the official said.
Israel has unilaterally moved the Yellow Line deeper into Gaza, although Israeli withdrawals form part of the ceasefire terms. Hamas has rejected demands to disarm, which is also envisaged in the plan. Israel has said it would force Hamas to disarm if necessary.
Trump plan, reconstruction push
Qassem urged participants at the first meeting of Trump’s new international Board of Peace for Gaza to pressure Israel to halt alleged violations and implement the agreement without delay.
US officials told Reuters last week that Trump would announce a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and outline proposals for a United Nations-authorised stabilisation force for the territory at the meeting in Washington.
The Israeli military said it continued destroying underground tunnels in northern Gaza in line with the agreement and that aircraft struck a building east of the Yellow Line after militants were seen emerging from a tunnel, killing at least two. Gaza officials said they had no information on those reported casualties.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire began. Israel says four soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.
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