Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 24 Palestinians including seven children in Gaza on Wednesday (4 February), health officials said, the latest violence to undermine the nearly four-month-old ceasefire.
Among the dead was a medic who rushed to help victims of a strike in the southern city of Khan Younis and was then killed by a second attack on the same location, health officials said.
Other strikes hit Gaza City in the north, where health officials said a 5-month-old boy was killed. The attacks come three days after Israel reopened Gaza's main border crossing with Egypt, a big step envisaged by the U.S.-backed truce deal.
"While we were sleeping in our house, the tank shelled us and the shells hit our house, our children were martyred - my son was martyred, my brother's son and daughter were martyred ... We have nothing to do with anything, we are peaceful people," said Abu Mohamed Habouch, speaking at a funeral for his family.
Tents in Mawasi, a coastal area near Khan Younis crowded with Gazans displaced by the conflict, had been ripped apart by the strikes. Nearly all of Gaza's population of more than 2 million were forced to flee their homes during the war.
The Israeli military said it launched the strikes in response to Palestinian militants opening fire on Israeli troops operating near its armistice line with Hamas. It said an Israeli soldier was severely injured by the militant fire, which it described as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
A subsequent statement said one of the Israeli strikes had targeted a senior Hamas commander.
A commander from Hamas' smaller ally, Islamic Jihad, and his 11-year-old daughter were among those killed in strikes on Wednesday, according to relatives.
The Israeli military later confirmed in a statement that it had killed an Islamic Jihad commander.
Hamas said Israel's actions undermined efforts to stabilise the ceasefire. In a statement, the group called for "immediate international pressure to halt violations."
Palestinian patients preparing to cross through the newly opened Rafah crossing to Egypt were told that Israel had postponed the passage of patients through the border. Afterwards, Palestinian health authorities said that the group of patients was on their way to the border.
The Israeli agency that controls access to Gaza, COGAT, said the Rafah crossing remained open but it had not received the necessary details from the World Health Organization to facilitate crossings. The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An Egyptian security source told Reuters that Israel had cited security issues in the Rafah area as the reason for the temporary closure, but those had since been resolved and work had resumed at the border.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said 46 people were set to cross to Egypt on Wednesday (4 February), but only 20 were able to travel to Egypt while the other 26 were returned to Gaza.
Reopening the crossing was one of the requirements under the October ceasefire that set out the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to stop fighting between Israel and Islamist Hamas militants.
Sixteen patients from Gaza and 40 of their escorts crossed into Egypt on Tuesday, Gazan medics told Reuters. A Hamas police source told Reuters that at least 40 people crossed from Egypt to Gaza late on Tuesday.
Second phase of ceasefire
Israel handed back 54 bodies and 66 boxes of human remains of Palestinians on Wednesday, according to Gaza's health authorities, with the fragile ceasefire set to move towards its second phase.
Key issues like the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the over 50% of Gaza they currently occupy and the disarmament of Hamas remain unresolved, while the fragile ceasefire has been marked by near-daily violence.
Pakistan is pushing for urgent global action and greater climate funding as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attends COP31 in Türkiye, warning th...
Armenia has lost its voting rights and the ability to nominate officials for certain posts within the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organi...
Four million workers across Spain joined a general strike on Wednesday over the country’s deepening housing crisis, unions said, bringing dis...
Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for their first formal talks in nine months. They did so with no agreement on what a ceasefire would be tied to or who gets to keep the land currently under Russian control.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning at this year's COP31 summit, saying the climate crisis iss advancing faster than governments' efforts to contain it.
At least 17 people have been reported killed in an explosion at a steel plant in western Türkiye, after a crane collapsed during maintenance work. The disaster has prompted a criminal investigation into what went wrong at the industrial facility.
Armenia could lose its voting rights within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on 11 November after failing to pay membership fees for more than two years, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said Washington believes the Russian President is prepared to reach a peace agreement under the right conditions, as U.S., Russian and Ukrainian delegations began trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 10 November.
Pakistan is pushing for urgent global action and greater climate funding as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attends COP31 in Türkiye, warning that melting glaciers, devastating floods and extreme heat are putting millions of lives and livelihoods at risk.
Armenia has lost its voting rights and the ability to nominate officials for certain posts within the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The decision was taken at a summit in Moscow on 11 November, amid years of strained relations between Yerevan and the alliance.
Heavy rain and strong winds have flooded around 70,000 tents across Gaza, leaving displaced Palestinian families exposed to cold, hunger and worsening living conditions as winter approaches, according to local authorities.
Trade along the Middle Corridor is accelerating, opening new opportunities for Central Asia and the South Caucasus as countries strengthen transport links between China and Europe. Cargo volumes reached around 4.7 million tonnes in 2025, up from less than one million tonnes in 2021.
Kazakhstan says the North Aral Sea’s water volume has risen by 24 per cent since 2022, reaching 23.4 billion cubic metres. The figures were unveiled at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, as the country outlined ambitious plans to accelerate restoration.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment