Palestinian civil defence crews carry a body from the rubble of a collapsed building that housed displaced Palestinians and was heavily damaged during the Israel-Hamas war, in Gaza City, on September 16, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Mourners gather for a mass burial of around 100 Palestinians, including 62 children, whose remains where recovered from rubble, in Gaza City. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

It’s been a year since Israeli soldiers killed 22 Palestinians, including journalists and rescue workers, in a double strike on a hospital in Gaza. No one has been held accountable.

Israeli officials said the target was a suspected Hamas camera on the roof of Nasser Hospital. Among those killed were Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who worked for The Associated Press and other news organisations.

Despite repeated requests by AP, the army hasn’t provided details about the investigation or a timeline for when it could be completed. Rights groups say Israel rarely holds troops accountable for killing Palestinians, pointing to long investigations that rarely lead to prosecution.

As global outrage over the August 25, 2025 strikes grew, the Israeli military said that in addition to taking out the camera, six of those killed were linked to Hamas, without providing evidence.

But an Israeli soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, now says the military could find no evidence linking the camera, which belonged to al-Masri, to Hamas. The soldier, who was privy to discussions surrounding the military’s response, said none of the six was the intended target of the strikes.

AP sent detailed questions to the military about the allegations, as well as other questions about the strikes. The military didn’t address the questions but said the incident is being examined and findings will be transferred to the Military Advocate General’s Corps to reach a verdict on whether to open a criminal investigation. It didn’t provide a timeline.

AP reported at the time that one of the six Israel said was linked to Hamas wasn’t on the hospital’s list of casualties and two others were medical or emergency personnel. That, along with the soldier’s account, raises serious questions about Israel’s rationale for the strikes.

Why did troops fail to identify the cameraman as al-Masri, even though journalists were known to film at the hospital? Why did they strike a second time, causing most of the deaths and raising accusations of a “double tap” attack on first responders, which would be a war crime? AP and Reuters released a statement on Tuesday (August 25, 2026) calling again for Israel to provide a full explanation of the strikes. The news organisations also called on Israel to give journalists access to Gaza to support colleagues who have been covering the war from the beginning.

“A year later, we remain devastated by their deaths and are still searching for answers from the Israeli authorities about what happened that day,” the statement read.

Nasser Hospital a “vital location”

News agencies like Reuters and AP supplied live video footage to newsrooms around the world from the hospital, one of the few functioning in Gaza at the time. AP repeatedly informed the army that its journalists were there.

The first strike killed al-Masri and another person. As other journalists, including Dagga, and rescue workers rushed up an external staircase to help the wounded and document what happened, the military struck again, killing 20 people. Based on footage and multiple eyewitnesses, none was armed. In all, Israel struck the hospital four times using high-explosive tank shells.

Israeli officials afterward said Hamas was using the camera to observe nearby troops. They alleged “suspicious behaviour” around the camera, but the only example they gave was that a towel draped over the camera and the person filming appeared to be an effort at concealment.

Al-Masri routinely covered equipment with a white cloth to protect it from the sun and dust, a common practice among journalists in Gaza and other hot climates.

Last week, the army announced criminal investigations into two other high-profile attacks by its troops in Gaza: the 2024 killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family, and the 2025 killing of 15 paramedics. It cleared troops in three other attacks that killed workers from international aid groups.

Soldier details “damage control”

The soldier was connected to AP through Breaking the Silence, a group founded over two decades ago by Israeli veterans that collects testimony from soldiers and is critical of Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories.

The soldier said after high-profile strikes that kill civilians without clear military purpose, army officials search for militant links among those killed.

Breaking the Silence said its testimonies show there is a “retroactive incrimination process” in which Palestinians who are killed are automatically counted as militants, even when unarmed.

Retroactive incrimination is used as a “near automatic justification for every bullet, shell or missile fired, and as a tool used to avoid carrying out real investigations,” Nadav Weiman, the group’s executive director, said.

AP independently confirmed some details of the soldier’s account, which is consistent with the military’s public response. Breaking the Silence said it corroborated the account with its own sources.

The Israeli military has raided or laid siege to hospitals throughout the war, accusing Hamas of using them as command centres and to hide fighters, though it’s provided evidence for only some of its claims.

Tank shells used

Hamas security men have been seen in hospitals during the war, controlling access to certain areas.

Earlier this year, Doctors Without Borders suspended some operations at Nasser Hospital for several months after patients and staff reported seeing armed, masked men roaming parts of the building.

The soldier, and a former military official with knowledge of the situation, said a high-ranking army official initially approved use of a precision weapon to take down the camera but an attempt by a drone failed for unknown reasons. The former official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to talk to the media.

“The division commander then approved an alternative method,” said the soldier, without saying what the method was. “It’s unclear who made the decision to fire tank rounds, which can cause more damage than drone strikes.”

Oded Ailam, former head of the counterterrorism division in Israel’s Mossad spy service, said while commanders on the ground have a degree of freedom, they don’t have a “blank cheque.”

“If the change is significant, particularly where it may affect the risk to civilians, it must remain within the authority, rules and intent of the original order, or require renewed approval,” he said.

200+ journalists killed

Israeli troops have killed 207 Palestinian reporters in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack ignited the war, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza, giving Palestinian journalists a critical role.

Sara Qudah, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa regional director, said Israel has a responsibility to conduct a prompt and transparent investigation. “When journalists can be killed without credible accountability, it becomes harder and more dangerous for the press to document conflicts and for the public to know what is happening,” she said.

The lack of answers has been agonising for families.

Ezz al-Din al-Masri said he doesn’t understand why his brother, Hussam, was killed. “Unfortunately, we found that the blood of journalists in Gaza is cheap… as if the rules protecting journalists do not apply to them,” he said.

Dagga, 33, had just taken her last photos before rushing up the stairs. Whenever her father, Riyad Abu Dagga, visits her grave, he carries her phone and camera with him. she always had them with her. He visits her apartment near Nasser Hospital and cries.

“Had any of the daughters of the soldiers been killed unjustly, they would not have stayed silent,” he said of the Israelis. “They would want to know why.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joins pro-settlement Israelis on a march towards the Gaza Strip under the slogan “After 21 years, we’re returning home”, referring to Israel’s unilateral withdrawal of around 8,500 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, near Kibbutz Zikim and Israel’s border with Gaza, in southern Israel, on July 19, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the war, at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli combat soldier saw his teammates yelling in celebration, congratulating one another. They had just struck a vehicle of Palestinians driving near the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip, killing everyone inside.

The reservist said scenes like this had become common after a fragile ceasefire took effect in October. In the weeks he was stationed in Gaza, he said, he saw soldiers relishing the chance to go after those who crossed — or came close to crossing — the so-called yellow line that divides the strip into Israeli-controlled and Palestinian areas.

Also Read : Israel-Iran war LIVE updates

“It was a jungle,” the soldier, in his 20s, told The Associated Press (AP). “After the ceasefire, the order was: If someone crosses the line, you shoot them.” As diplomatic efforts to strengthen the deal have stalled, three soldiers described to AP a sense of confusion in the embattled territory, with a lack of clarity on rules of engagement around the yellow line.

Some commanders paid lip service to the agreement, the soldiers said, while privately voicing desire for the war in Gaza to continue. Sometimes, troops were too far away or acted too quickly to recognize who they were shooting, one soldier said — a concern echoed in comments from a whistleblower group of veterans.

The soldiers’ accounts are a rare glimpse into what’s happened in the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza since the deal went into effect seven months ago. The soldiers — reservists deployed throughout Gaza between October and January who’ve since returned — spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared being ostracized over their comments. They said they were speaking out because they were angered and saddened by what they saw.

AP has documented shootings of Palestinian civilians, including children playing, close to the yellow line. And the soldiers said it felt like the killings never stopped amid the tenuous deal. “To call it a ceasefire is a joke,” one soldier told AP.

Gaza’s yellow line has been ambiguous, and Israel has taken control of more land

When the ceasefire went into effect, Israel withdrew troops to a buffer zone demarcated by a yellow line, giving it control of just over half the strip. Under the agreement, Israeli forces are meant to complete a fuller withdrawal, though there’s no timeline for that. The U.S.-backed diplomat overseeing the truce says progress is deadlocked over the central sticking point of disarming Hamas, upon which all other issues — including Israeli withdrawals and reconstruction — hinge.

In the meantime, Israel has expanded control over additional territory in Gaza. Both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire.

The line’s exact location has been ambiguous and sometimes invisible. In some places, it’s marked with yellow blocks and barrels; in others, it at times hasn’t been indicated at all.

The Israeli military invited AP this week to see a section of the yellow line in central Gaza, near the Maghazi refugee camp. The line there was visible, demarcated by a wide dirt path and small yellow markings. To the east was a desolate stretch of open space leading to a heavily fortified Israeli military post about 500 meters away.

An Israeli military commander said Hamas is active on the other side of the line and frequently sends people — militants and civilians — toward the line and even across it to test the army’s readiness and responses.

“There is no reason for anyone to come near the line,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity under military rules. “There’s nothing here.” The army says the entire line, which stretches the length of Gaza, is now clearly marked.

Since the ceasefire went into effect, more than 900 people have been killed in Gaza — dozens of those close to or over the yellow line, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Ministry doesn’t say how many are militants, but unarmed men and children have been among the dead.

Israel’s military has said most of the people killed crossing the line posed a threat to troops. But soldiers who spoke to AP and Breaking the Silence — the whistleblower group that has collected troops’ testimonies throughout the war — say that at times soldiers were too far away, acting too quickly and under too much pressure to tell.

Israel’s Army told AP that the area adjacent to the yellow line is a “sensitive operational environment” with signs saying approaching is prohibited. It said the Army doesn’t target civilians solely for approaching the line and that its rules of engagement require the use of warnings before using force. In situations involving an immediate threat, forces are authorized to act, it said.

One soldier says troops must act fast, with information sometimes based on a hunch

It was the combat soldier’s second tour in Gaza when the ceasefire began. He said he was posted several hundred meters from the yellow line and saw several people trying to cross it killed by soldiers.

Soldiers shooting or ordering drone strikes don’t always know who’s crossing the line, he said. Although soldiers must provide coordinates and get approval from superiors before striking, it’s hard to give exact information as people are moving, he said. He described soldiers calling in coordinates based on a hunch or the last place they saw someone.

Breaking the Silence says the general rules of engagement are extremely permissive, especially for those crossing the line, with orders in many areas being “shoot to kill.” Executive director Nadav Weiman, a veteran who served in Gaza but not in this war, said distance from the target and some trigger-happy soldiers can be problematic.

He said orders and policies from the military’s high commanders “have created a reality where countless civilians have and are being killed for crossing invisible lines.” In one account to Breaking the Silence, in interview notes seen by AP, a soldier describes instructions for troops about anyone crossing the yellow line: “eliminate him no matter what.”

A soldier who was stationed in Gaza says human lives weren’t valued

Another soldier stationed in Gaza for weeks after the ceasefire said the message from commanders was to hold the line at all costs. “There was a general feeling that human lives are not valuable,” he said.

When it came to demarcating the yellow line, the soldier said his superiors told him it was “too much work,” not their job and that Palestinians should know where it was. Being in Gaza took an emotional toll, he said.

Sometimes snipers fired warning shots at people close to the line, he said, but commanders told troops to do more to protect themselves. The soldier understood that to mean firing more lethal shots.

He and the other soldiers who spoke to AP said troops generally understood, based on leaders and fellow soldiers’ actions, that Israel was in Gaza for the long run, not an eventual withdrawal.

Israel’s strikes are increasingly proactive,’ according to an internal report

An internal report circulated among aid groups last month and seen by AP said that across Gaza, Israel has become “increasingly proactive” with its strikes.

Separate data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit, said April was the deadliest month in Gaza this year and that recorded deaths near the yellow line or of people who crossed it increased by more than 25% from January to April, to 73 from 58.

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel controls 60% of Gaza and the next step was to move to 70% control. The soldiers told AP that on the ground, the ceasefire is elusive. “We need to stop using this term,” one said of the word, ceasefire. “It’s not serving people that want to stop the war.”

Palestinians inspect the site of what medics said was an Israeli airstrike on a car near the entrance to Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip, April 4, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

At least 12 Palestinians, including two boys, a pregnant woman and eight police officers, were killed Sunday (March 15, 2026) by Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

A strike Sunday (March 15, 2026) morning hit a house in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat in central Gaza and killed four people, including a couple in their 30s and their 10-year son, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The woman had been pregnant with twins, the hospital said.

The fourth fatality, a 15-year-old neighbor, was taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat.

“We were sleeping and got up to the strike of a missile. The strike was strong,” said Mahmoud al-Muhtaseb, a neighbor. “There was no prior warning.” Another strike Sunday afternoon hit a police vehicle on the south-north Salah al-Din route at the entrance of the central town of Zawaida, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said.

The strike killed eight police officers, including Col. Iyad Ab Yousef, a senior police official in central Gaza, the ministry said.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll. It said 14 others were wounded.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on either strike.

Hamas oversees a police force that maintained a high degree of public security after the militants seized power in Gaza in 2007, while also cracking down on dissent.

The police largely melted away during the war as Israeli forces seized large areas of Gaza and targeted Hamas security forces with airstrikes.

But following an October ceasefire, they have reappeared in Gaza streets and reasserted control in areas not controlled by the Israeli military.

Killings continue despite ceasefire Sunday’s deaths were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since the ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the ceasefire has still seen almost daily Israeli fire. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing more than 650 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Israel says it has responded to violations of the ceasefire or targeted wanted militants. But about half of those killed have been women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

They were among more than 72,200 Palestinians killed in the war, which was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The militant attack killed over 1,200 people and took over 250 others hostage.

The health 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. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

Israel to allow reopening of Rafah crossing Separately, Israel announced it will allow the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt starting Wednesday after more than two-week hiatus.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said in a statement that the crossing will resume operations with “limited” passenger traffic in both directions. No cargo will be allowed through the crossing, it said.

COGAT said procedures will be the same as before the crossing closed after Israel and the U.S. launched devastating strikes on Iran on February 28, triggering an expanding war in the region.

Since its opening earlier this year, Israel allowed a limited evacuation of patients and wounded people for treatment outside Gaza – a fraction of more than 20,000 requiring medical evacuations, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Some Palestinian who were treated in Egypt during the war were also allowed to return to the strip. Some of the returnees reported abuses by Israeli troops once they crossed the Palestinian gate of the crossing.

Published – March 16, 2026 04:25 am IST

Israeli military strikes on Monday (February 9, 2026) killed three people west of Gaza City, according to the hospital where the casualties arrived.

Shifa Hospital reported the deaths amid the months-old ceasefire that has seen continued fighting. The Israeli Army said Monday (February 9, 2026) it is striking targets in response to Israeli troops coming under fire in the southern city of Rafah, which it says was a violation of the ceasefire. The Army said it is striking targets “in a precise manner.”

Also Read | All about Israel-Gaza War

The four-month-old U.S.-backed ceasefire followed stalled negotiations and included Israel and Hamas accepting a 20-point plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at ending the war unleashed by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack into Israel. At the time, Trump said it would lead to a “Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.” Hamas freed all the living hostages it still held at the outset of the deal in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and the remains of others.

But the larger issues the agreement sought to address, including the future governance of the strip, were met with reservations, and the U.S. offered no firm timeline.

Top UN official concerned over Israel’s West Bank decision

The United Nations top official on Monday expressed concern about the Israeli security cabinet’s decision to deepen the country’s control over the occupied West Bank.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “gravely concerned” and warned that the Israeli decision could erode the prospect of a two-state solution, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

“Such actions, including Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are not only destabilising but – as recalled by the International Court of Justice – unlawful,” he said.

Israel ‘s security cabinet on Sunday approved measures that aim to deepen Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and weaken the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the measures would make it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up land, adding that “we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state.” Israel captured the West Bank, as well as Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for a future state.

Rafah crossing improving, official says

The Palestinian official set to oversee day-to-day affairs in Gaza said on Monday that passage through the Rafah crossing with Egypt is starting to improve after a chaotic first week of reopening marked by confusion, delays and a limited number of crossings.

Ali Shaath, head of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News that operations at the crossing were improving on Sunday. He said 88 Palestinians were scheduled to travel through Rafah on Monday, more than have crossed in the initial days since reopening. Israel did not immediately confirm the figures.

The European Union border mission at the crossing said in a statement Sunday that 284 Palestinians had crossed since reopening. Travellers included people returning after having fled the war and medical evacuees and their escorts. In total, 53 medical evacuees departed during the first five days of operations.

That remains well below the agreed target of 50 medical evacuees exiting and 50 returnees entering daily, negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials.

Shaath and other members of the committee remain in Egypt, without Israeli authorisation to enter the war-battered enclave.

The Rafah crossing opened last week for the first time since mid-2024, one of the main requirements for the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It was closed Friday and Saturday because of confusion around operations.

Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people are seeking to leave Gaza for medical care unavailable in its largely destroyed health system.

Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first days after the crossing reopened described hourslong delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab. Israel denied mistreatment.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Monday that five people were killed over the previous 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 581 since the October ceasefire. The truce led to the return of the remaining hostages — both living captives and bodies — from the 251 abducted during the October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the attack. Israel’s military offensive has since killed over 72,000 Palestinians, according to the ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government and is staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties.

Published – February 10, 2026 07:10 am IST