Israeli strikes and gunfire kill five in Gaza, including a 12-year-old boy, as the truce is disputed

Five deaths across several areas

On Thursday, 5 November, Israeli strikes and gunfire killed five people across the Gaza Strip, according to the Civil Defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority. The most recent count includes a 12-year-old boy shot by Israeli forces east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Two more people were killed in separate strikes near the municipality of Al-Zawayda, and a woman was shot by Israeli forces in the Khan Younis area in the south. A drone strike west of Gaza City killed one person and wounded several others, according to the same agency. Hospitals that received the bodies confirmed these figures.

Al-Bureij area1

Al-Zawayda area2

Khan Younis area1

West of Gaza City1

Al-Bureij area

1 deaths

Al-Zawayda area

2 deaths

Khan Younis area

1 deaths

West of Gaza City

1 deaths

Data from the article text

A toll that grew from four to five

Earlier updates from the same day counted four dead rather than five. In its first statement to AFP, the agency said that four people had been killed and several others wounded.

The later report adds a fifth death, from the drone strike west of Gaza City, which the earlier versions did not include. Both versions name the boy and the woman as victims of Israeli fire, so the difference lies in the additional death rather than in the circumstances described.

Israeli military response

The Israeli army, asked by AFP, said it had struck "Hamas terrorists" in the Al-Zawayda area and west of Gaza City. It said it had no knowledge of such incidents concerning the death of the child and the Palestinian woman. Notícias ao Minuto reported that the army had not yet commented on the attacks it described. The military's account therefore covers the strikes near Al-Zawayda and west of Gaza City, but not the shootings reported in Al-Bureij and Khan Younis.

Ceasefire under strain

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the ceasefire that took effect on 10 October 2025, after two years of war triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The Gaza Health Ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures the UN considers reliable, reports more than 1,600 Palestinians killed since the truce, according to Le Soir and Notícias ao Minuto. Earlier that day, 20 Minutes put the figure at 1,550 for the same period. Notícias ao Minuto also reported that the ministry counts more than 74,600 people killed since 7 October 2023, including 20,000 minors.

Displacement and conflicting details

Notícias ao Minuto, citing hospital sources, gave different locations for some deaths. It placed the woman, a 54-year-old mother of five, in the Bir 19 zone in the far south, near the so-called "yellow line" where Israeli troops are positioned. The same outlet reported that a drone strike in central Gaza killed one person, and that another person died in a tent for displaced people in Deir al-Balah. The outlet also said at least 1.8 million people remain displaced, most of them in tents near the Mediterranean, and will face a fourth winter there.