Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City kill at least nine, including three children, despite October ceasefire

Saturday's attacks

Israeli warplanes and artillery struck two residential neighbourhoods in Gaza City on Saturday, killing at least nine Palestinians and wounding several more. In the Nasr neighbourhood, two missiles hit a second-floor apartment, destroying the building and damaging a neighbouring block. Five members of one family were killed, including three children between the ages of 8 and 18, according to Mohammed Abu Selmiya, director of Shifa Hospital. Six others were wounded, among them four children aged 8 to 16. Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Defence, told AFP that the only survivor from the family was a child who was not in the apartment at the time.

The only survivor of the family is a child, who was not in the home at the time of the attack.

In the Zeitoun neighbourhood, an Israeli strike on a group of civilians killed four people and critically wounded another, health officials said. Hours later, Bassal reported that Israeli artillery fire hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the same district, killing one woman, wounding several, and leaving three missing. Two additional deaths were recorded elsewhere in Gaza City during the day. The Israeli military confirmed it carried out strikes, saying it targeted Hamas infrastructure and a "Hamas terrorist," and that results were being assessed.

A ceasefire in name only

Israel and Hamas agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in October 2025, part of a broader plan put forward by President Donald Trump to end the war and begin reconstruction. Despite the agreement, Israel has continued near-daily attacks across the enclave, arguing it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat. Both sides accuse each other of violating the truce. Al Jazeera reported that Israel has widened the range of areas it hits, pushing beyond the so-called "Yellow Line" its forces are meant to hold under the ceasefire. Israeli media said the military now controls close to 70 percent of Gaza, well beyond the roughly half of the territory it was expected to hold.

Palestinians are stuck in a nightmare that's difficult to reconcile with the existence of a truce.

Talks to move the deal to the next phase have stalled, and the UN has described the situation as a nightmare. Reporting from Gaza, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said the expansion was "shrinking" and "fragmenting" the territory into smaller, disconnected areas, making movement very difficult and leading to the "erasure of urban life."

Mounting casualties since October

Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government but staffed by medical professionals whose records are viewed as generally reliable by the UN, reports that at least 1,127 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect. That figure includes at least 260 children. Five Israeli soldiers and one defence ministry contractor have been killed in the same period. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all deaths.

The wider war

The current violence is an extension of the war that began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 73,250 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry's figures are used by United Nations agencies and independent experts. Residents of Gaza described Saturday's attack as sudden and without warning. Moussa Al-Aimawi, a Gaza resident, told AFP that bodies were scattered everywhere, including women, children, and the elderly.

Suddenly, a missile hit the building. Nobody was expecting it. There were bodies scattered everywhere, women and children dead, and also the elderly.

Rescue teams were still searching for victims trapped beneath the rubble, and medical sources warned the death toll was likely to rise.