Health officials in Gaza and local medics said at least five Palestinians were killed on Thursday in a series of Israeli attacks across the territory, as a U.S.-based research organisation reported a marked increase in Israeli air and drone strikes since an October ceasefire went into effect.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike struck near the Tuffah neighbourhood in northern Gaza, killing two people. In eastern Gaza City, they reported a third fatality after Israeli tank fire hit the Zeitoun suburb. Additional casualties were recorded in other parts of the enclave: an airstrike on a tent encampment for displaced people in western Gaza City killed one person and wounded several others, and an attack on a vehicle in Khan Younis in the south resulted in another death, medics said.
Witnesses also reported that a residential building in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza was struck by an airstrike. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on any of the incidents, according to the medics and witnesses.
These deaths increase a toll that Gazan health officials say has topped 1,100 Palestinians killed since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect - a figure that those officials say consists largely of civilians. The health authorities in Gaza also note that Hamas typically does not disclose its own losses.
The ceasefire that took effect in October halted major ground combat, but it has not ended a near-daily pattern of Israeli strikes, officials and monitors say. Over the same period, militants in Gaza have killed four Israeli soldiers, the reporting noted.
Conflict monitor ACLED, a U.S.-based research group that tracks violence in the region, reported that air and drone strikes against Hamas and other militants rose to more than 40 in June - the highest monthly total since the ceasefire began. ACLED's Middle East Assistant Research Manager Nasser Khdour said that rising domestic political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - with polls showing the opposition in the lead ahead of an October legislative election - is contributing to calls for a tougher security posture toward Hamas. The report added that Israel says its strikes are intended to prevent attacks by Gaza militants.
Nearly all of Gaza's roughly 2 million residents now live on a narrow coastal strip, largely in makeshift tents or in buildings damaged in previous fighting, under the control of Hamas, the reporting said. Israeli tallies attribute 1,200 deaths to Hamas-led fighters during their cross-border attack into Israel on October 7, 2023. The Gazan health ministry has said Israel's subsequent offensive killed more than 73,000 Palestinians.
Note on sources and reporting: The casualty counts and descriptions of specific strikes are reported by Palestinian health officials, medics and witnesses. Monitoring data on strike frequency was provided by ACLED.