DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 24 Palestinians, including two babies, according to health officials in the territory, where a fragile ceasefire is under increasing strain. Israel said it killed three militant leaders and others who posed a threat to its forces, and that some strikes came in response to a Hamas attack that seriously wounded one of its soldiers.
Deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce since it took effect on Oct. 10. The escalating Palestinian toll has prompted many in Gaza to say it feels like the war is continuing unabated.
Among the Palestinians killed Wednesday were at least five children, seven women and an on-duty paramedic, according to hospital officials.
“Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?”said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, in a Facebook post.
Deadly strikes have continued despite ceasefire deal
The ceasefire attempted to halt the more than 2-year-old war, which began with Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, it has been marred by repeated flare-ups of violence.
A total of 556 Palestinians, half whom were women and children, have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire went into effect, according to Gaza health officials. Israel’s military says four of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began.
Israel has said its strikes are responses to Hamas ceasefire violations or militant attacks on its soldiers. Eight Arab and Muslim countries, including mediators Egypt and Qatar, recently condemned what they called Israel’s “repeated violations” of the deal.
An Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military policy, told The Associated Press that Israel's latest attacks were in response to militant gunfire that badly wounded a reservist soldier Wednesday morning.
Early morning strike kills 11, including two children
Israeli troops fired on a building in the Tuffah neighborhood in north Gaza, killing at least 11 people, most from the same family, said Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included two parents, their 10-day-old daughter Wateen Khabbaz, her 5-month-old cousin, Mira Khabbaz, and the children's grandmother.
The Israeli military said the attack was a real-time response to the gunfire that targeted its soldiers.
Mourners gathered in the courtyard of Shifa Hospital Wednesday morning for funeral prayers.
“What did this child do? …. Why are they killing the children?” asked a relative of the family, Mohammad Jaser.
Two young children were seen kneeling at the body of their father as a woman told them to bid him farewell. A young girl kissed the dead man's cheeks.
Strikes on Gaza continue Wednesday
A strike on a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killed at least three people and wounded 10 others, according to a field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent in the area. The dead included a paramedic who was on duty at the time, said the hospital.
The Israeli military said the strike had targeted and killed a Hamas platoon commander, Bilal Abu Assi, who led a deadly attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz during the 2023 assault that started the war. It said it had used surveillance, precision weapons and other means to avoid hitting bystanders and “regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians.”
A separate strike in Khan Younis killed three people.
Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, said a 12-year-old boy was among the dead, and that all were killed by a strike on a family's tent. An Israeli military official said the strike targeted three individuals who approached Israeli-controlled territory, posing an immediate danger to troops.
Another strike hit the Al-Shati Refugee camp in Gaza City, killing one person and wounding another, according to health officials at Shifa hospital. The Israeli military said it had killed the leader of a Hamas cell responsible for killing a soldier abducted from the Nahal Oz observatory post during the October 2023 assault. It said the militant was targeted in response to the overnight shooting by Hamas.
Israel said the third militant killed Wednesday was an Islamic Jihad leader in northern Gaza.
At least 38 Palestinians were wounded in total by the strikes Wednesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
Passage through Rafah border is minimal
The Rafah border crossing’s opening Monday was hailed as a step forward for the fragile ceasefire. But since then, Palestinian passage through the crossing has been marred by delays, interrogations and uncertainty over who would be allowed to cross. It took the entire day Tuesday for 40 Palestinians to enter Gaza.
On Wednesday, 15 patients from Gaza and 31 of their relatives were scheduled to cross to Egypt, but more than half the group was turned away, said Raed al-Nims, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society. The government of North Sinai confirmed that some had been allowed into Egypt, but did not provide figures. By evening it was not clear if any Palestinians had been allowed to cross into Gaza and the World Health Organization did not respond to requests for an update.
Ceasefire deal plods forward
While all fighting has not stopped, some parts of the ceasefire deal have moved forward.
Hamas has released all of the hostages it was holding, and in return Israel has released several thousand Palestinians. Increased amounts of humanitarian aid have flowed into Gaza and a new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer the territory's daily affairs.
The Red Cross said Wednesday it had acted as an intermediary in the handover of 54 Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza. Shifa Hospital said it had also received more than 60 boxes containing other remains. Forensic experts will begin work to identify the remains in a territory where thousands remain missing, the Red Cross said.
Key elements of the ceasefire appear to have stalled, including the deployment of an international security force, the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.
In the 2023 attack that started the war, thousands of Hamas-led militants poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251.
Over 71,800 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Frankel from Jerusalem. AP writer Sam McNeil contributed from Brussels.