Israeli attacks kill six in Gaza as mediators push to rescue ceasefire

CAIRO: Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least six Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, health officials said, as mediators intensified efforts to preserve a US-brokered ceasefire that has remained in place since October 10, 2025 despite repeated violence.

According to medics cited by Dawn, an Israeli air strike killed at least four people near Al-Yeman Al-Saeed Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. medical sources and eyewitnesses who spoke to Anadolu said the strike hit commercial shops in Jabalia and that several other people were wounded. That report also said the dead included a child.

Separate shooting incidents were also reported in the south and north of the enclave. Two people were killed in separate incidents in Khan Younis and Gaza City. Express Tribune identified one of those killed as 30-year-old Zaki Mohammed al-Qarra, who it said was shot dead east of Khan Younis, while another person was moderately injured. It also reported that a 13-year-old boy, Amir al-Bashiti, was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Batn al-Sameen area south of Khan Younis.

Express Tribune further reported that a Palestinian was seriously wounded in a drone strike on tents sheltering displaced people in central Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, Israeli forces carried out demolition operations against civilian structures in areas where they are deployed east of Gaza City and the town of Jabalia, with local sources reporting loud explosions. Israeli naval vessels fired machine guns and shells toward the coast of Gaza City, with no immediate reports of casualties.

Ceasefire talks continue

The violence came as Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye concluded a week of talks with Hamas and other Palestinian factions on implementing the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan. The proposed next phase would involve Hamas disarming and Israel withdrawing its forces.

Hamas and other factions said on Sunday they had submitted a written response to a 15-point framework presented by the mediators and Trump’s Board of Peace, though they did not disclose details. Sources close to the talks said the factions had agreed to 14 of the 15 points. The remaining dispute concerns the disarmament of Hamas, which the group links to the launch of a political process toward a Palestinian state.

Israel maintains that Hamas must disarm, relinquish power in Gaza and have no future role in the territory. Hamas, meanwhile, blames the failure to reach a full agreement to end the war on what it says is Israel’s refusal to carry out obligations from the first phase agreed in October. Israel says its strikes are meant to prevent imminent attacks by Hamas and other fighters.

Casualties since the truce

More than 950 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since the October truce. Express Tribune, citing Gaza’s Health Ministry, put the toll from ceasefire violations at 986 dead and 3,138 injured.

Since the start of the war on October 8, 2023, nearly 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 173,000 injured, while about 90 per cent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are still living in tents and temporary shelters after their homes were destroyed or badly damaged during the war.