KEY POINTS
- Israeli air strikes across Gaza killed at least 21 people on Sunday.
- Medical sources reported 71 deaths and 150 injuries since the ceasefire began.
- Israel accused Hamas of violating the truce.
- Hamas denied any violations, saying it is committed to the truce.
- Netanyahu ordered the Rafah crossing closed “until further notice”.
- Gaza’s Health Ministry put the death toll since October 2023 at 68,159.
- UN humanitarian chief described Gaza as “a wasteland” and called for massive aid deliveries.
GAZA CITY, Palestine: Gaza’s civil defence agency said a series of Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed at least 21 people across the Palestinian territory, as Israel and Hamas traded blame for violating a ceasefire.
Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the agency, which operates as a rescue service, said six of the victims were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a “group of civilians” in northern Gaza.
A woman and two children were killed when a drone strike hit a tent housing displaced people near Asdaa City, north of Khan Younis.
Two people were killed and several others injured in an Israeli strike in the western part of Zuwaida town in central Gaza.
In another attack, two people were killed and several were injured when an Israeli strike hit a tent in the Al-Ahli Club area in Nuseirat, central Gaza, Bassal said.
Two more people were killed in an Israeli air strike in eastern Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, he added.
The Israeli military, cited by AFP, said it was checking the reports of casualties.
Later on Sunday, the Israeli military said it had launched fresh strikes on Hamas targets in southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, medical sources, cited by Al Jazeera, said that at least 71 people have been killed across Gaza by Israeli attacks since the ceasefire came into effect. Another 150 people have been wounded by Israeli army fire since the agreement, medical sources said.
An Israeli army official earlier said Israel may carry out further strikes in Gaza after its forces carried out three attacks in the southern city of Rafah and the northern town of Beit Lahia.
Earlier, Israeli media reported that the Israeli military launched an attack on Gaza, dimming hopes that a week-old US-brokered ceasefire would lead to lasting peace in the Palestinian enclave.
An Israeli military official said on Sunday that Hamas had carried out multiple attacks against Israeli forces inside Gaza, including a rocket-propelled grenade attack and a sniper attack against Israeli soldiers.
“Both of the incidents happened in an Israeli-controlled area…This is a bold violation of the ceasefire,” the official said.
Hamas accuses Israel of ceasefire violations
Meanwhile, the Hamas armed wing denied any violation of the ceasefire and reaffirmed its commitment to the truce.
Earlier, the Israeli military confirmed that its forces launched air raids in Rafah after Hamas fighters allegedly fired antitank missiles and small arms at Israeli troops positioned along the ceasefire lines.
“The army responded with air strikes after coming under fire,” the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
However, Hamas’s Qassam Brigades said it had “no knowledge of any clashes” in Rafah, adding that its communication with remaining units in the area had been cut off since Israel re-entered parts of southern Gaza in March.
Netanyahu orders Rafah closure
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would remain closed “until further notice”.
The closure, it said, would remain in place until Hamas returned the remains of all dead hostages.
“The reopening of Rafah depends on Hamas fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The decision follows the handover of 13 bodies by Hamas over the past week, 12 of whom were identified as Israeli hostages. The Israeli authorities said one of the bodies did not belong to a hostage.
Gaza death toll surpasses 68,000
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry said 18 more bodies were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since October 7, 2023, to 68,159, with 170,203 wounded. The figures, compiled by the health ministry, are widely regarded by the United Nations as credible estimates of civilian casualties.
The ministry also said Israel had released 150 Palestinian bodies so far, including 15 on Sunday. “Some of the bodies showed signs of torture, beatings, handcuffing, and blindfolding,” the statement said.
Families searching for missing relatives have been poring over photographs of the bodies, many of which were decomposed or unidentifiable. Only 25 of the 150 returned bodies have been identified.
US warns Hamas
The United States on Saturday said it had “credible reports” suggesting Hamas was allegedly planning an imminent attack against civilians in Gaza, which Washington warned would constitute “a grave violation” of the ceasefire.
“This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,” the US State Department said.
Earlier, President Donald Trump warned in a post on Truth Social that “if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them”.
Hamas rejected the US claims as “false and baseless”, accusing Washington of “repeating the Israeli narrative”.
The Palestinian group said it remained committed to the truce and accused Israel of supporting armed groups inside Gaza.
UN official calls Gaza “a wasteland”
Tom Fletcher, the United Nations humanitarian chief, who visited Gaza City on Saturday, described the devastation as “beyond comprehension”.
“Nothing prepares you for Gaza,” Fletcher wrote in a diary published by The Observer. “The scale of destruction, the density of loss, the quiet resilience in people’s eyes.”
He said 950 aid trucks, including 11 carrying fuel and gas, entered Gaza on Thursday. Bakeries in Deir el-Balah were producing around 300,000 loaves of bread daily, he noted, but warned that “Gaza is a wasteland — what’s needed is not a trickle, but an avalanche of aid”.
Fletcher later posted footage from Khan Younis showing entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble.
Driving on the road from Gaza City to Khan Younis yesterday. pic.twitter.com/gDGGIm5VM1
— Tom Fletcher (@UNReliefChief) October 19, 2025
Rafah closure deepens humanitarian crisis
The Rafah crossing — Gaza’s only gateway not controlled by Israel before the war — has remained closed since May, when Israeli forces seized the Gazan side.
The closure has blocked thousands of Palestinians from leaving for medical treatment or reuniting with family in Egypt.
The Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced new procedures for travellers, saying those wishing to exit Gaza would receive temporary documents issued by embassy staff in Cairo.
With humanitarian needs soaring and the truce increasingly fragile, aid agencies warn that the latest escalation could unravel months of mediation led by the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye.
As Fletcher put it: “We owe it to those who have endured so much to move beyond this endless cycle of cruelty, terror, and revenge.”
Hamas to deliver one hostage’s body
Hamas said on Sunday that it has located the body of a hostage, which it said will be delivered to Israel on Sunday if field conditions were appropriate.
The Palestinian group said any Israeli “escalation” would hinder search operations, shortly after Israel said it launched airstrikes and artillery fire at targets in southern Gaza.
Senior Hamas official Izzat Al Risheq said on Sunday that the Palestinian group remained committed to the ceasefire, which he accused Israel of repeatedly violating.
Neither Al Risheq nor the Israeli military official made any mention of the reported Israeli strikes in Gaza.
The government media office in Gaza said on Saturday that Israel had committed 47 violations after the ceasefire deal.
The impact of the Israeli strikes on Sunday, the most serious test since an already fragile ceasefire took effect on October 11, was not immediately clear.
