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Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians in separate strikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, hours after the army said it hit the site of a failed militant rocket attack, the latest violence jeopardizing the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least three people and injured three others, including children, in a tent in the western area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Another strike killed one person east of the city, near where Israeli forces operate.
Later Thursday, medics said a man was killed in an Israeli strike on a school, which also housed displaced families in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave, while another strike killed another person in a tent near Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, bringing Thursday’s death toll to at least seven.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the reports of the deaths.
After shells and shrapnel hit her home in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza on Thursday, 11-year-old Hamsa Housou was taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Outside the hospital morgue, his uncle, Khamis Housou, told The Associated Press that the family returned home on Oct. 11, 2025, a day after the ceasefire took effect.
Housou, who said his niece dreamed of becoming a doctor, said that early Thursday he heard screams as Israeli troops combed the area hit with shells and shrapnel. He ran from his apartment to the house where Hamsa lived and found her lying on the floor.
He rushed the girl to the nearest clinic, but discovered the ambulance had a flat tire. They waited about 15 minutes, he said, before taking him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“They say there is a ceasefire and the war on Gaza has stopped. Is it only through the media, when every day there are explosions and rings of fire?” he asked. “The shooting doesn’t stop. Where is the ceasefire?”
Housou said Falluja, the Jabalia neighborhood where the family lives, has been subject to daily fire from Israeli troops, despite being on the west side of the yellow ceasefire line.
The Israeli military said Thursday it was not aware of any casualties linked to the strikes in the area. The military has previously said that all actions taken since the start of the ceasefire were in response to violations of the agreement.
Israel says it struck rocket launch site in Gaza
Earlier, the army said it struck a launch site shortly after firing a rocket that failed to reach Israeli territory. It accuses Hamas of violating the ceasefire twice in the past 24 hours. A source from the Palestinian militant group told Reuters it was verifying the claims.
The ceasefire agreed to in October did not progress beyond the first phase, during which major fighting ceased, Israel withdrew from less than half of Gaza and Hamas fighters released live hostages and human remains in exchange for detained Palestinians.
As part of yet-to-be-defined future phases, US President Donald Trump’s plan calls for the disarmament of Hamas, a subsequent withdrawal by Israel and an internationally-backed administration to rebuild Gaza.
But little progress has been made on next steps. More than 400 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, and almost all of Gaza’s more than two million residents now live in makeshift homes or damaged buildings in a swath of territory where Israeli troops have withdrawn and Hamas has reasserted control.
WATCH | Trump and Netanyahu met last month to discuss the Gaza ceasefire agreement:
US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the next steps for the ceasefire in Gaza. Trump said there would be hell to pay for Hamas if it did not disarm, but said the withdrawal of Israeli forces was “a separate subject.”
Israel is awaiting the handover of the final body planned as part of the initial phase of the truce. An Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not move on to the next phase of the ceasefire until Hamas returns the remains of the last Israeli hostage still held in Gaza.
He has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, another condition of the U.S.-backed plan, saying he will only do so once the remains are returned.
Hamas and Israel accuse each other of major violations of the ceasefire agreement and remain very divergent on the most difficult steps envisaged for the next phase.
Israel continued to carry out airstrikes and targeted operations across Gaza. The Israeli military said it views “with the utmost severity” any attempt by militant groups in Gaza to attack Israel.
Deaths increase despite truce agreement
A Hamas official told Reuters on Thursday that the group had documented more than 1,100 Israeli ceasefire violations since October and urged mediators to intervene. Violations include killings, injuries, artillery and air strikes, house demolitions and detentions of people, he said.
Hamas refused to disarm and reasserted its control. Israel has said it will resume military action if Hamas is not peacefully disarmed.
At least 425 Palestinians have been killed in the three months since the ceasefire took effect, Gaza’s health ministry reported Thursday.
The overall Palestinian death toll from the war between Israel and Hamas stands at at least 71,395, the Health Ministry said, with 171,287 injured.
The gradual ceasefire agreement is still in its initial phase as efforts continue to recover the remains of the last hostage in Gaza.
The Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Wednesday it had been informed that teams had resumed searching for Ran Gvili. The 24-year-old police officer was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants kidnapped 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the attack that sparked the war, according to Israeli figures.
