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

Trucks carrying aid and supplies line up next to Egyptian ambulances, before transporting supplies into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side, in Rafah, Egypt, on February 4, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Palestinians gathered on both sides of Gaza’s border with Egypt on Tuesday (February 3, 2026) hoping to pass through the Rafah crossing, after its reopening the previous day was marred by delays, interrogations and uncertainty over who would be allowed to cross.

“On the Egyptian side were Palestinians who fled Gaza earlier in the Israel-Hamas war to seek medical treatment,” according to Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News television.

On the Gaza side, Palestinians in need of medical care that is unavailable in Gaza gathered at a hospital before ambulances moved toward Rafah, hoping for word that they would be allowed to cross the other way.

The office of the North Sinai Governor confirmed on Tuesday (February 3, 2026) that an unknown number of patients and their companions had crossed from Gaza into Egypt.

The bus with about 40 Palestinians that entered Gaza via Rafah on Tuesday (February 3, 2026) arrived at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday morning (February 4, 2026), where their families welcomed them after spending the entire day waiting.

Though hailed as a step forward for the fragile ceasefire struck in October, it took more than 10 hours for only about a dozen returnees and a small group of medical evacuees to cross in each direction on the first day Rafah reopened.

Three women who crossed into Gaza on Monday (February 2, 2026) told the AP on Tuesday (February 3, 2026) that Israeli troops blindfolded and handcuffed them, then interrogated and threatened them, holding them for several hours before they were released.

The significance of the Rafah border crossing and why its reopening matters to Egypt and Gaza | Explained

The numbers permitted to cross on Monday fell well short of the 50 people that officials had said would be allowed each way and barely began to address the needs of tens of thousands of Palestinians who are hoping to be evacuated for treatment or to return home. The import of humanitarian aid or goods through Rafah remains prohibited.

‘Not a solution to the crisis’

Evacuation efforts on Tuesday morning (February 3, 2026) converged around a Red Crescent hospital in Khan Younis, where a World Health Organization team arrived and a vehicle carrying patients and their relatives rolled in from another hospital. Then the group of WHO vehicles and Palestinian ambulances headed toward Rafah to await crossing.

As the sick, wounded and displaced waited to cross in both directions, health officials said the small number allowed to exit so far paled beside Gaza’s tremendous needs. Two years of fighting destroyed much of its medical infrastructure and left hospitals struggling to treat trauma injuries, amputations and chronic conditions such as cancer.

In Gaza City, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya called the pace “crisis management, not a solution to the crisis,” imploring Israel to permit the importing of medical supplies and equipment. He wrote on Facebook, “Denying the evacuation of patients and preventing the entry of medicines is a death sentence for them.” UN and WHO officials said the trickle of patients allowed out and restrictions on bringing in desperately needed supplies are prolonging a disastrous situation in Gaza.

“Rafah must function as a real humanitarian corridor so we can have a surge in aid deliveries,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN’s top relief official.

Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson Raed al-Nims told AP that only 16 patients with chronic conditions or war wounds, accompanied by 40 relatives, were brought from Khan Younis to the Gaza side of Rafah on Tuesday (February 3, 2026) — less than the 45 patients and wounded the Red Crescent was told would be allowed.

After days of anticipation over the reopening, hope lingered that it might mark a meaningful first step. In Khan Younis, Iman Rashwan waited for hours until her mother and sister returned from Egypt, hoping others would soon see their loved ones again.

Waiting on both sides

Officials say the number of crossings could gradually increase if the system works, with Israel and Egypt vetting those allowed in and out. But security concerns and bureaucratic snags quickly tempered expectations raised by officials who for weeks had cast reopening as a major step in the ceasefire deal.

There were delays on Monday (February 2, 2026) over disagreements about luggage allowances. Returnees were carrying more than anticipated with them, requiring additional negotiations, a person familiar with the situation told the AP on condition of anonymity.

“They didn’t let us cross with anything,” Rotana Al-Regeb said as she returned around midnight on Monday to Khan Younis. “They emptied everything before letting us through. We were only allowed to take the clothes on our backs and one bag per person.” The initial number of Palestinians allowed to cross is mostly symbolic. Israeli and Egyptian officials have said that 50 medical evacuees would depart — along with two caregiver escorts — and 50 Palestinians who left during the war would return.

“At that pace, long waits are facing most of the roughly 20,000 sick and wounded people who Gaza’s Health Ministry has said need treatment abroad. About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive patients,” authorities said. Who and what would be allowed through Rafah was a central concern for both Israel and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that anyone who wants to leave will eventually be permitted to do so, but Egypt has repeatedly said the Rafah crossing must open in both directions, fearing Israel could use it to push Palestinians out of Gaza.

19-year-old killed in southern Gaza

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said Ahmed Abdel-Al, 19, was shot and killed by Israeli troops on Tuesday morning in a part of the southern Gaza City, some distance away from the area under the Israeli military’s control. Israel’s military said it was not immediately aware of any shootings in the area.

Abdel-Al was the latest of the 529 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the October 10 start of the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Published – February 04, 2026 12:50 pm IST

The U.N. said Thursday (January 1, 2026) that a Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip drowned in floods that engulfed his tent camp, with videos showing rescuers trying to pry his body out of muddy waters by pulling him by the ankle. It was the latest sign of the miseries that winter is inflicting on the territory’s population, with many left homeless by the devastation from two years of war.

Health officials also reported the death of another 9 year-old boy in Gaza Thursday, but the circumstances were not clear.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israeli forces carried out a sweep of arrests, seizing around 50 Palestinians, many from their homes, a Palestinian group representing prisoners said.

As 2026 begins, the shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But Palestinians are still being killed almost daily by Israeli fire, and the humanitarian crisis shows no signs of abating. At least three Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza since the ceasefire came down, killed by militant attacks or explosive detonations.

UNICEF said Thursday that 7-year-old Ata Mai had drowned Saturday in severe flooding that engulfed his tent camp in Gaza City. Mai’s was the latest child death reported in Gaza as storms, cold weather and flooding worsen already brutal living conditions. Almost the entire population of more than 2 million people have lost their homes, and most are living in squalid tent camps with little protection from the weather.

UNICEF said Mai had been living with his younger siblings and family in a camp of around 40 tents. They lost their mother earlier in the war.

Video from Civil Defense teams, shown on Al Jazeera, showed rescue workers trying to get Mai’s body out of what appeared to be a pit filled with muddy water surrounded by wreckage of bombed buildings. The men waded into the water, pulling at the boy’s ankle, the only part of his body visible. Later, the body is shown wrapped in a muddy cloth being loaded into an ambulance.

Over past weeks, cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities, causing flooding, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing buildings damaged in Israeli bombardment to collapse. UNICEF says at least six children, including Mai, have now died of weather-related causes, including a 4-year-old who died in a building collapse.

The Gaza Ministry of Health says three children have died of hypothermia.

“Teams visiting displacement camps reported appalling conditions that no child should endure, with many tents blown away or collapsing entirely,” said Edouard Beigbeder, regional director for UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa division.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said Israeli troops had arrested at least 50 Palestinians across the West Bank and interrogated many of them overnight. Most of the arrests occurred in the Ramallah area, said the group, which is an official body within the Palestinian Authority.

“These operations were accompanied by widespread raids, abuse and assault against detainees and their families, in addition to extensive acts of vandalism and destruction inside citizens’ homes,” the group alleged.

Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the raid.

The society says that Israel has arrested 7,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem this year, and 21,000 since the war began Oct. 7, 2023. The number arrested from Gaza is not made public by Israel.

Violence in the West Bank has surged during the war in Gaza, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting militants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has also been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

A nine-year-old boy, Youssef Shandaghi, died in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, not far from the so-called “Yellow Line,” the ceasefire demarcation between the more than half of the Gaza Strip still held by the Israeli military and the rest of the territory, where most of the population lives.

Two officials from Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, Director Mohammed Abu Selmiya and Managing Director Rami Mhanna, said the boy was killed by Israeli gunfire coming from across the Yellow Line. Abu Selmiya cited the report from the doctor who received Shandaghi’s body. Israel’s military said it had no knowledge of the incident.

But an uncle of the boy said he was killed by unexploded ordnance he had come across while playing. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting accounts.

Israeli troops almost daily open fire on Palestinians who come too close to the Yellow Line, often killing or wounding some, according to medical personnel and witnesses. The Israeli military says it fires warning shots if someone crosses the line and fires at anyone judged to be posing a threat to troops. It has acknowledged some civilians have been killed, including young children.

Since the ceasefire began, 416 Palestinians have been killed and 1,142 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war is at least 71,271. The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Published – January 02, 2026 05:22 am IST

Winter rain lashed the Gaza Strip over the weekend, flooding camps with ankle-deep puddles as Palestinians displaced by two years of war attempted to stay dry in tents frayed by months of use.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled for an expected meeting on Monday (December 29, 2025) with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida about the second phase of the ceasefire. The first phase that took effect on October 10 was meant to bring a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, including shelter.

Mr. Netanyahu made no public statement as he departed.

Nowhere to escape

In the southern city of Khan Younis, blankets were soaked and clay ovens meant for cooking were swamped. Children wearing flip-flops waded through puddles. Some people used shovels or tin cans to remove water from tents. Others clawed at the ground to pry collapsed shelters from the mud.

“Puddles formed, and there was a bad smell,” said Majdoleen Tarabein, displaced from Rafah in southern Gaza. “The tent flew away. We do not know what to do or where to go.” She and family members tried to wring muddy blankets dry by hand.

“When we woke up in the morning, we found that the water had entered the tent,” said Eman Abu Riziq, also displaced in Khan Younis. “These are the mattresses. They are all completely soaked.” She said her family is still reeling from her husband’s death less than two weeks ago.

“Where are the mediators? We do not want food. We do not want anything. We are exhausted. We just want mattresses and covers,” said Fatima Abu Omar as she tried to prop up a collapsing shelter.

At least 12 people, including a two-week-old infant, have died since December 13 from hypothermia or weather-related collapses of war-damaged homes, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

Emergency workers have warned people not to stay in damaged buildings, because they could collapse. But with much of the territory in rubble, there are few places to escape the rain. In July, the United Nations estimated that almost 80% of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.

Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, 414 people have been killed and 1,142 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war is at least 71,266. The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

The Israel-Hamas war began with the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Aid groups call for more help

Humanitarian deliveries into Gaza are falling far short of the amount called for under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, according to aid organisations and an Associated Press analysis of the Israeli military’s figures.

The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid said in the past week that 4,200 trucks with aid entered Gaza, plus eight garbage trucks to assist with sanitation, as well as tents and winter clothing. It refused to elaborate on the number of tents. Aid groups have said the need far outstrips the number that have entered.

Since the ceasefire began, around 72,000 tents and 403,000 tarps have entered, according to Shelter Cluster, an international coalition of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the top UN group overseeing aid in Gaza, wrote on social media. “There is nothing inevitable about this. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.”

Ceasefire’s next phase

Though the ceasefire agreement has mostly held, its progress has slowed.

Israel has said it refuses to move to the next phase while the remains of the final hostage are still in Gaza. Hamas has said the destruction in Gaza has hampered efforts to find remains.

Challenges in the next phase include the deployment of an international stabilisation force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of the Hamas militant group and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of truce violations.

Published – December 29, 2025 05:55 am IST

Image for representational purposes. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Palestinians and Emergency personnel carry a white body bag of a victim at Al-Shifa Hospital targeted by an Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City, on December 13, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Representational image only. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters