Israeli strikes kill two in Gaza as ceasefire violations continue

Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least two people on Sunday, including a 4 year old boy, and wounded seven others, according to Palestinian health officials, in the latest breach of a fragile truce that has failed to halt military action in the territory.

One strike hit a residential building in Zawayda town in central Gaza. Residents said the Israeli army had issued a warning to the property owners to evacuate before the strike occurred. Medics said the blast sent debris and shrapnel across dozens of meters, wounding at least six people. Among them was 4 year old Mohammad Abdel Salam Taha, who died later at a hospital.

Abu Ahmed, a displaced Palestinian who had been sheltering near the building, said no real ceasefire exists on the ground. He described the structure as reduced to a heap of twisted steel and concrete, and said residents simply want peace and workable solutions.

A second airstrike struck the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, health officials said. Israel’s military said it was reviewing both incidents.

An October 2025 ceasefire, brokered with backing from the United States, ended large scale fighting in Gaza but has not stopped Israeli military strikes, which officials say target efforts by Hamas and other militant groups to regroup. The military said in a statement late Saturday that it had killed a senior Hamas figure, Sharif Al Hasnat, in the city of Deir Al Balah, accusing him of leading work to rebuild Hamas underground infrastructure.

Hamas has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire and undermining a broader plan championed by US President Donald Trump aimed at ending the Gaza conflict, which includes provisions for Israeli troop withdrawals and Hamas disarmament. Gazan health officials say more than 1,280 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since the ceasefire took hold last October, while the Israeli military reports four of its soldiers killed over the same period.

Violence also flared in the Israeli occupied West Bank, where police and the military said an Israeli man was stabbed and wounded by a suspect believed to be Palestinian. Security camera footage released by the military showed the attacker waiting near a vehicle beside a main highway close to Jericho before stabbing the man as he approached his parked car. The suspect fled on foot, and Israeli soldiers were searching for him at the time of the report.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, health officials said Israeli forces shot and killed a 14 year old boy, Islam Ajjouri, during a raid on the Askar refugee camp near Nablus. The Israeli military said it was examining the incident.

The West Bank remains home to roughly 3 million Palestinians alongside about 500,000 Israeli settlers, and the territory has seen a marked increase in settler violence along with land and resource seizures in recent years. The United Nations and most of the international community regard Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law governing military occupations, a position Israel disputes on the basis of historical and religious ties to the land.

The continued strikes and rising West Bank violence underscore how far the current truce remains from a lasting resolution, even as diplomatic efforts continue around the broader ceasefire framework. Regional mediators have repeatedly called for restraint on all sides, though sporadic incidents on both fronts have persisted almost weekly since the October agreement took effect, leaving civilians in Gaza and the West Bank exposed to continued danger nearly a year into what was billed as a lasting halt to hostilities.