Seven Palestinians, among them an eight-year-old girl, were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to medical sources. The deaths came a year after a truce backed by the United States took effect.
Rights groups have described the arrangement as existing largely on paper. In a joint statement issued on Friday, more than 100 humanitarian, human rights and civil society organisations said the ceasefire exists only in name, pointing to continued Israeli killings and injuries and to limits on aid, equipment and rebuilding materials that they said keep families from recovering.
Strikes hit Gaza City and Khan Younis
An eight-year-old, Shahd Abdul-Razzaq al-Najjar, was killed by an Israeli quadcopter drone in the al-Jawazat area of western Gaza City, according to a source in the ambulance and emergencies service. Separately, four people died and several were wounded in an Israeli bomb attack near the Haider Abdel Shafi roundabout, al-Shifa Hospital said.
The hospital also reported that another Palestinian was killed by a drone in the Tuffah neighbourhood of northeastern Gaza City. In the southern city of Khan Younis, a woman died from wounds sustained in an earlier Israeli attack that day.
Health ministry tallies deaths since the truce
The enclave’s Ministry of Health said at least 1,481 Palestinians have been killed and 5,254 injured since the truce came into force on October 10 last year. Since October 7, 2023, the war has killed at least 74,370 people and injured 175,371, the ministry added.
Over the previous 24 hours, Israeli attacks killed at least nine people and wounded 65, the ministry said, and one more person died of injuries sustained in earlier strikes.
Reporting from Gaza on Saturday, ‘s Tareq Abu Azzoum said the truce has mainly increased uncertainty in the territory. He said the pace of killing has not changed, and that the danger has not fully lifted, so residents see consequences that reach well beyond the deaths themselves.
Settler attacks reported across the occupied West Bank
At least 12 settler attacks were recorded on Saturday morning in the occupied West Bank, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission. Palestinian news agency reports said settlers beat farmers, sprayed them with pepper spray, stole their property and attacked homes, and that several Palestinians were detained during the assaults with the help of Israeli military forces.
In the Ramallah and el-Bireh Governorate, settlers and soldiers reportedly forced farmers off their land and threatened them against returning. Two farmers were beaten and pepper-sprayed, and a vehicle and their phones were taken.
