At least 32 Palestinians were killed in a wave of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local rescue officials.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said women and children were among the dead, adding that one attack involved helicopter gunships striking a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis. Palestinians described the strikes as the heaviest since the second phase of a ceasefire agreement came into effect earlier this month.
The ceasefire was brokered by the United States and announced by President Donald Trump last October.
The Israeli military confirmed it carried out multiple strikes, saying they were in response to a Hamas violation of the truce on Friday. Both Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of breaching the ceasefire since it began last year.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said eight militants were identified exiting an underground tunnel network in eastern Rafah, an area where Israeli troops remain deployed under the terms of the October agreement.
The IDF said it carried out strikes alongside the Israel Security Agency (ISA), targeting what it described as four Hamas commanders, additional militants, a weapons storage site, a weapons manufacturing facility and two rocket launch sites in central Gaza.
Hamas condemned the strikes and called on the United States to intervene, saying the attacks showed that Israel “continues its brutal war of genocide against the Strip.” A civil defence spokesperson said residential apartments, tents, shelters and a police station were hit, adding that seven members of one displaced family were killed in Khan Younis.
At Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, officials said an air strike on a residential apartment killed three children and two women.
“We found my three little nieces in the street. They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?” said Samer al-Atbash, the uncle of the three children, according to Reuters.
Images and video from across Gaza showed bodies being pulled from rubble and widespread destruction to buildings. Local authorities said at least 12 people were killed when a police station was struck in Gaza City.
The strikes came as Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt was set to reopen on Sunday, following the recovery earlier this week of the body of Israel’s last remaining hostage.
Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks and urged all parties to “exercise the utmost restraint,” according to a statement seen by AFP. Qatar, a key mediator in the ceasefire negotiations, also denounced what it described as “repeated Israeli violations.”
In January, US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced the start of phase two of the ceasefire. Phase one, agreed in October 2025, included a halt in fighting, a hostage-for-prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal and an increase in humanitarian aid.
Under the proposed second phase, Gaza would be governed by a technocratic Palestinian administration, followed by reconstruction and the full demilitarisation of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups. Hamas has so far rejected disarmament.
The war began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 71,660 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, including at least 509 since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October 2025. Israeli authorities say four Israeli soldiers have been killed during the same period.
While Israel has previously questioned casualty figures released by the health ministry, a senior Israeli security source was quoted by local media as acknowledging that more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the conflict. The figures are widely cited by the United Nations and international human rights organisations.
Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, to report independently from inside Gaza.
