32 Palestinians, including children killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza

Israeli air strikes killed at least 32 people, including children, in Gaza on Saturday, according to the Palestinian civil defence agency. The escalation came despite a US-brokered ceasefire that entered its second phase earlier this month, with both Israel and Hamas accusing one another of breaching the agreement.

The civil defence agency said the death toll had risen since dawn, adding that most of the victims were women and children. Its spokesperson, Mahmud Bassal, reported that residential buildings, tents, shelters and a police station were among the targets.

An apartment in Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood was completely destroyed, with blood visible on the street below, AFP journalists reported. Another strike hit a police station in the Sheikh Radwan district. Gaza’s general police directorate said seven people were killed in that attack, while Bassal stated that four of the dead were female police officers, AFP reported.

First responders were seen pulling bodies from the rubble of the destroyed building. In a separate attack, Israeli strikes hit a shelter in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, where tens of thousands of displaced people are living in tents. Thick smoke was seen rising over the area, and casualty numbers from that strike were not immediately clear.

Although fatalities have been reported almost daily since the ceasefire began on October 10, Saturday’s death toll was unusually high. Israel’s military said the strikes were carried out in response to an incident a day earlier, claiming that eight Palestinian fighters emerged from a tunnel in Rafah in violation of the ceasefire. The military said it had targeted four commanders and other members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad across Gaza.

Hamas political bureau member Suhail al-Hindi dismissed Israel’s justification, accusing it of committing a serious crime and of failing to honour agreements or commitments.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s health ministry said that at least 509 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect, while Israel’s military reported that four of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza during the same period in suspected militant attacks.