Key Points:
- Israeli strikes threatens a four-month-old US-brokered ceasefire.
- Since the ceasefire in October, 581 Palestinians have been killed and 1,553 injured; total Gaza war toll exceeds 72,000 deaths and 171,000 injuries.
- Under the ceasefire, Israel was to halt operations and a Palestinian technocratic committee was formed, but demilitarisation remains unresolved.
- UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini condemned Israel’s ban on foreign journalists and restrictions on aid workers.
- Hamas leadership reaffirmed it will not disarm or accept foreign control, calling for balanced international support for reconstruction and aid.
GAZA: Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to health officials, in the latest deadly incidents threatening a four-month-old US-brokered ceasefire.
The deaths were reported in northern, central, and southern Gaza and involved a range of incidents, including airstrikes, drone attacks, and shootings by ground forces.
The Israeli military did not comment directly on the reported fatalities on Tuesday but said its actions were aimed at Hamas in response to the Rafah attack the previous day.
Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians gathered to protest during the funerals of three individuals killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the area on Monday night.
It is pertinent to mention that since the ceasefire came into effect in early October, Israeli attacks have killed 581 Palestinians and injured 1,553 others, the Gaza media office said.
Since the war started in Gaza in October 2023, Israel has killed more than 72,000 people and wounded over 171,000.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel was obligated to halt military operations in the Palestinian territories.
The deal also created a Palestinian technocratic committee to oversee day-to-day governance in the heavily affected Gaza Strip, though questions remain about whether or not the contentious issue of demilitarisation will be resolved.
UNRWA slams Israeli curbs on journalists
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has denounced Israel’s ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza, as well as the restrictions placed on humanitarian aid organisations and their personnel.
“These Israeli policies aim at further dehumanising Palestinians by denying their suffering & their existence,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “Lifting the information embargo is long overdue.”
Independent foreign journalists are denied access to Gaza. So are humanitarian workers reporting about the plight of the population & human rights abuses.
Journalists should not have to turn to the courts to defend basic media freedoms.
And humanitarian organisations + their…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) February 10, 2026
Demilitarisation
A senior leader of the Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday said the group will neither disarm nor accept any form of foreign intervention in Gaza.
“Criminalising the resistance, its weapons, and those who carried it out is something we should not accept,” Khaled Meshal said at a conference in Doha.
“As long as there’s occupation, there’s resistance. Resistance is a right of peoples under occupation,” said Meshal, who initially led the group.
He called on the Board of Peace to adopt what he described as a “balanced approach” that would facilitate Gaza’s reconstruction and ensure the inflow of aid to its roughly 2.2 million residents. At the same time, he added that Hamas would “not accept foreign rule” over Palestine.
