GAZA CITY, Palestine: Israeli airstrikes killed five Palestinians and wounded 18 others in Khan Younis on Thursday, local health authorities said, casting further doubt on a fragile, near six-week-old ceasefire brokered by the United States.
Medics said one Israeli strike on a house in Bani Suhaila town east of Khan Younis killed three people, including a baby girl, and wounded 15 others. Another strike killed a man and wounded three more in nearby Abassan.
The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the strikes but said it was not aware of casualties.
Later on Thursday, Nasser Hospital officials said a fifth person was killed by Israeli gunfire in Abassan.
The latest deaths follow a sharp escalation on Wednesday, when at least 25 Palestinians were killed—the highest toll since 29 October, when at least 100 people died, according to medics.
Hamas condemned the attacks as a “dangerous escalation” and urged Arab mediators, Turkiye, and the United States to intervene.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem also accused Israel of changing boundary markings that define areas still under Israeli control, in violation of agreed maps.
He said the changes leave Israel in control of more than half of the Gaza Strip.
Residents told Reuters they observed barricades in the Shejaia suburb of eastern Gaza City moved about 100 metres westward. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the matter.
In Gaza City’s Zeitoun suburb, where at least 10 people were killed on Wednesday in a building housing displaced families, Palestinians sifted through wreckage to salvage belongings. Rescue teams continued searching for more victims.
“They say there is a ceasefire, but I doubt this,” Zeitoun resident Akram Iswair told Reuters. “Missiles struck the displaced, poor citizens. What can we do? What can our families do?”
The 10 October ceasefire in Israel’s two-year bombardment campaign has eased violence for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to devastated neighbourhoods.
Israel has withdrawn some forces from urban positions, and aid deliveries have slightly increased, though still far below what is needed.
Palestinian health authorities say 312 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce began.
Since October 2023, more than 69,585 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed in Israeli military operations, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Under the truce, Hamas released all 20 living hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees held by Israel.
Hamas also agreed to return the remains of 28 dead hostages in exchange for 360 bodies of Palestinians killed in the war. So far, 25 hostage remains and 330 Palestinian bodies have been returned.
A new operation to recover Palestinian bodies buried under rubble will begin on Saturday. Gaza’s Civil Defence and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will lead the effort.
The search will start at 9am local time in the Barakat al-Waz area of central Gaza’s Maghazi camp, where 64 people have been missing for months after Israeli strikes on residential buildings.
Civil Defence teams, forensic experts, Egyptian representatives, and families of the missing will take part.
Hamas said Palestinian children “deserve protection like children everywhere,” Al Jazeera reported.
The Palestinian group said Israel’s onslaught had destroyed “food, medicine, clean water, healthcare, education and psychological support”, in defiance of international humanitarian norms.
It called for international prosecution of Israeli leaders for “crimes against children”.
