At least 25 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air, drone and artillery strikes across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The attacks marked one of the deadliest days since a ceasefire took effect five weeks ago.
According to details received by The Chenab Times, ten people died when a strike hit a ministry of religious endowments building in the eastern Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City. Rescuers reported severe damage to the structure and surrounding areas.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that the violence began after gunmen fired towards an area where Israeli soldiers were operating in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Israel’s military stated it responded by targeting “Hamas terrorist targets” in violation of the ceasefire agreement. No Israeli injuries were reported.
Hamas denounced the strikes as a “dangerous escalation” that could jeopardise the truce. “This is a dangerous escalation through which the war criminal [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu seeks to resume the genocide against our people,” the group said in a statement.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, told the BBC that the attacks struck several locations in Gaza City and Khan Younis shortly after sunset. He described the incident in Zeitoun, where rescue workers recovered bodies, including three young children, from under rubble.
In Gaza City, one person was killed and others wounded in a drone strike at Shejaiya junction on Salah al-Din Street. Another died when a tank shell hit a house in Shejaiya’s Mushtaha Street. Civil Defence reported 13 deaths in Khan Younis, including three in a strike on a UNRWA-run sports club.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan cited a security source saying the targets included the commander of Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion and its naval force commander.
The flare-up follows a UN Security Council resolution on Monday endorsing US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. The resolution authorised a transitional Board of Peace chaired by Trump and an International Stabilisation Force to oversee demilitarisation.
Trump described the measure as “a moment of true historic proportion.” Hamas reiterated it would not disarm without a Palestinian state, calling its actions legitimate resistance. Israel’s UN ambassador emphasised disarmament, stating the country would not relent until Hamas posed no threat.
A US official told Reuters that Hamas sought to break the ceasefire and avoid disarmament commitments.
The ceasefire began on October 10 after Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched in response to a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Gaza’s health ministry reports at least 69,500 deaths in Israeli attacks since then, including 280 during the ceasefire period.
The Israeli military stated three of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the truce and that it has targeted scores of fighters.
In a related development, Israel’s military conducted strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting Hezbollah weapons storage facilities. Israel accuses the Iran-backed group of rebuilding capabilities after a war that ended last November.
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