Khan Younis
\nAt least 32 people have been killed in a wave of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local authorities.
\nThe civil defence agency, which is operated by Hamas, says children and women were among those killed. It added that in one attack, helicopter gunships hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis.
\nPalestinians have described these strikes as the heaviest since the second phase of the ceasefire, brokered by US President Trump last October, came into effect earlier this month.
\nThe Israeli military confirmed that a number of strikes were carried out in response to what it said was a Hamas violation of the agreement on Friday.
\nBoth Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce since it came into effect last year.
\nIn a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said \u201ceight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah\u201d, an area in Gaza where Israeli forces are deployed under the October agreement.
\nThe IDF said it had, together with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), struck targets in various locations including \u201cfour commanders and additional terrorists\u201d as well as a weapons storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site and \u201ctwo launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip\u201d.
\nHamas has condemned the strikes and urged the US to take immediate action, adding that \u201cthese ongoing violations\u201d confirm that the Israeli government \u201ccontinues its brutal war of genocide against the strip\u201d.
\nIt said that seven of the victims were from one displaced family in Khan Younis, with a civil defence spokesman adding that the strikes hit residential apartments, tents, shelters and a police station.
\nOfficials at Gaza City\u2019s Shifa hospital said an air strike on the city hit a residential apartment, killing three children and two women.
\n\u201cWe found my three little nieces in the street. They say \u2018ceasefire\u2019 and all. What did those children do? What did we do?\u201d said Samer al-Atbash, an uncle of the three dead children, according to Reuters news agency.
\nVideo footage and images from across Gaza showed several bodies being lifted out of rubble and a number of buildings destroyed.
\nThe strikes come as the Rafah crossing, Gaza\u2019s border with Egypt, is due to reopen on Sunday after the IDF recovered the body of Israel\u2019s last hostage earlier this week.
\nEgypt\u2019s foreign ministry condemned the strikes in a statement seen by AFP news agency, and urged all parties to \u201cexercise the utmost restraint\u201d.
\nQatar, one of the key mediators during ceasefire talks, also denounced the \u201crepeated Israeli violations\u201d, its foreign ministry said.
\nIn January, US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced the start of phase two of the ceasefire deal.
\nUnder phase one, Hamas and Israel agreed the ceasefire in October 2025, as well as a hostage-prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an aid surge.
\nWitkoff said phase two would see a technocratic Palestinian government established in Gaza, the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups.
\nThe war between Israel and Hamas began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
\nIsrael responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,660 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
\nIt says at least 509 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began on 10 October 2025. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed.
\nThough Israel has previously disputed figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, a senior security source was reported by local media as saying that the military accepts that more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in Gaza.
\nThe health ministry\u2019s figures have been deemed reliable by the UN and other human rights groups and widely cited by international media. Israel does not allow news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza to report independently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Khan Younis At least 32 people have been killed in a wave of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local authorities. The civil defence agency, which is operated by Hamas, says children and women were among those killed. It added that in one attack, helicopter gunships hit a tent sheltering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n