An Israeli strike and accompanying gunfire resulted in the deaths of at least 10 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including a 10-year-old boy and reportedly a senior Hamas police commander, health and police officials in Gaza.
This latest toll raises the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks to over 1,100 since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in October 2025. During the same period, militants in Gaza have killed four Israeli soldiers.
In Rafah, located in southern Gaza, medics confirmed that Muataz Abu Shaar, aged 10, was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire. Meanwhile, in the northern Gaza town of Jabalia, an Israeli airstrike targeted a Hamas police post, killing at least seven people, including a woman, and injuring several others. The Hamas-led interior ministry identified the casualties as including Colonel Mohammad Marwan Salem, the head of the Jabalia police force, along with other officers.
The Israeli military stated that it eliminated Salem, described as the leader of Hamas’ central Jabalia battalion, along with three other militants. It claimed that those killed had recently convened to plan and execute attacks, and their removal was intended to neutralize a threat.
In a significant development, this surge in violence occurred shortly after Hamas leaders concluded another round of truce negotiations in Cairo on Tuesday. These talks, facilitated by Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar, aimed to advance the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
The discussions focused on Hamas disarmament and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. However, progress remained limited due to deep mistrust between the parties. The second phase also envisions the transfer of authority to a U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, deployment of an international security force, and the initiation of Gaza’s reconstruction after extensive war damage.
Five countries—Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania—have pledged troops to the U.S.-supported International Stabilization Force. Yet, no deployments have occurred as negotiations between Trump’s Board of Peace and Hamas have stalled for months.
At an aid donor conference in Brussels on Monday, Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, announced plans to visit Morocco on Tuesday to formalize its contribution to the stabilization force, expressing hope that troops would soon be operational on the ground. He described the October ceasefire as holding “imperfectly,” with ongoing violations, and noted that Hamas has not yet agreed to a proposed negotiation “roadmap.”
Hamas official Basem Naim criticized Mladenov for allegedly siding with Israel in talks and failing to hold Israel accountable for ceasefire breaches and non-compliance with the first phase of the Trump plan. That initial phase required Israel to withdraw its troops to a designated “yellow” line, but Israel has gradually advanced its forces, now controlling over 60% of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has insisted it will not proceed to the second phase until the first phase’s conditions are met. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2 million residents, many displaced multiple times, live in a narrow coastal area under Hamas control, often in temporary shelters or damaged structures.
Notably, Hamas fighters killed approximately 1,200 people during their cross-border attack into Israel on October 7, 2023. In retaliation, the Gazan health ministry reports that Israel’s subsequent military offensive has resulted in over 73,000 Palestinian deaths.
