At Least 25 Palestinians Killed in Israeli Strikes Across Gaza, Health Ministry Says
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air, drone, and artillery strikes across the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. The deadly escalation comes amid a fragile ceasefire and follows a series of attacks in various locations across the territory.
Among the victims, ten people—including a woman and a young girl—died when an Israeli airstrike hit a building housing the Ministry of Religious Endowments in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood. Rescuers reported severe damage to the structure, with video footage showing workers recovering bodies from the rubble. The attack also resulted in the deaths of three children, whose bodies were found at the scene, as reported by the Anadolu news agency.
In a separate strike in Gaza City, a drone targeted a group of people at the Shejaiya junction, killing one and wounding several others. Another victim died when a tank shell hit a house on Mushtaha Street in Shejaiya, a heavily impacted area in eastern Gaza. In Khan Younis, Israeli forces launched a strike on a group of people at a sports club run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), killing three and injuring others.
The Israeli military said its strikes were in retaliation for gunfire directed at its soldiers in Khan Younis, which it deemed a violation of the ongoing ceasefire. In response, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that they targeted “Hamas terrorist positions” across Gaza. The IDF identified key Hamas commanders as targets, including the leader of the Zeitoun Battalion and the commander of Hamas’s naval forces.
The violence marks a sharp escalation after several days of relative calm and comes after the UN Security Council passed a resolution that endorsed US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. The resolution aimed to solidify the fragile ceasefire and called for a demilitarization of Gaza, a point fiercely rejected by Hamas, which continues to argue that it will not relinquish its weapons without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The UN’s resolution also authorized the creation of a transitional governance body, to be chaired by President Trump, and an International Stabilization Force to oversee the process. Meanwhile, Israel continues to insist that its military operations will not cease until Hamas no longer poses a threat.
Since the start of the conflict on October 7, when a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel left nearly 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 250 taken hostage, at least 69,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, with the death toll rising daily, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
As winter rains approach, humanitarian groups are raising alarms about the worsening conditions in Gaza, where thousands of civilians remain displaced and in desperate need of aid.
