Deadliest Day Since Ceasefire: Israeli Strikes Kill At Least 26 In Gaza

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 26 people on Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported, the highest single-day death toll in the enclave in more than two months since a mid-October ceasefire.

Incident Details

Gaza authorities said the new fatalities occurred despite the ceasefire, which went into effect in mid-October. Officials say the death toll in Gaza since that truce began has now topped 500. Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defense, said roughly a quarter of the recovered bodies were children and about one-third were women. He added that an elderly man and four female police officers were among the dead.

Basal said some victims remained trapped under rubble after strikes hit shelters, tents used by displaced people, residential apartment buildings and a police station.

Smoke and fire rises from a shelter housing displaced Palestinians, after an Israeli air strike in the west of Khan Younis on Saturday. - Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images

Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital — the largest medical complex in Gaza — told CNN that the death toll is likely to rise as hospitals continue to receive large numbers of critically injured patients.

Military Statement

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strikes targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad sites across Gaza and described the action as a response to an alleged breach of the ceasefire on Friday, when "eight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah." The IDF said it had killed three of the militants and captured one.

The IDF has carried out periodic strikes since the ceasefire began, accusing Hamas of violating the agreement's terms.

A man inspects the debris of Sheikh Radwan police station following an Israeli air strike. - Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images

Voices From Gaza

"We woke up at 4 a.m. suddenly to find that they struck three girls, my aunt who is an old lady and her daughter. She was a guest at our house. All my three nieces were then on the street," said Samer Al-Atbash, a relative of victims. "Truce, truce, what’s our fault, what are our children’s faults? These three children beloved by God — what did they do?"

Wider Context

The deaths followed media reports that Israeli military officials, speaking to domestic journalists, estimated roughly 70,000 Palestinians were killed during the broader war in Gaza — a figure that broadly aligns with the health ministry's counts. Yedioth Ahronoth quoted military officials saying, "We estimate that about 70,000 Gazans were killed in the war, not including the missing." Kan 11 attributed the remark to the Coordinator of Government Affairs in the Territories (COGAT) and reported that authorities are attempting to determine how many of the dead were civilians or militants.

The IDF responded that the "details published do not reflect official IDF data," and a military spokesperson declined to confirm whether the IDF keeps or will release its own official tally of Palestinian casualties. Earlier in the conflict, Israeli officials had repeatedly challenged the health ministry's figures, accusing it of inflation and noting the ministry's connection to Hamas.

The strikes and the contested casualty figures add to ongoing humanitarian concerns in Gaza, where the ceasefire has reduced but not eliminated violence and where medical facilities continue to face heavy strain.