At least 30 Palestinians, including several children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday, hospitals said. The death toll is one of the deadliest since the October ceasefire and came a day after Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire. The strikes came a day before the planned reopening of the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border in Gaza’s southernmost city.
The attacks hit several locations, including an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, according to hospital officials who received the victims, the AP reported. Among those killed were two women and six children from two separate families. A police station was targeted in an airstrike in Gaza City that killed at least 14 people and wounded others, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.
What did Hamas say?
Hamas described Saturday’s strikes as “renewed flagrant violations” and called on the United States and other mediating countries to pressure Israel to stop them.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim, who questions the legitimacy of the international body proposed by the Trump administration to oversee Gaza, turned to X and said: “All available indicators indicate that we are dealing with a ‘Board of War’, not a ‘Board of Peace.’
Reopening of the Rafah crossing
All border crossings into this territory, except crossings with Israel, were closed for almost the entire duration of the war. Palestinians see Rafah as a vital lifeline for tens of thousands of people in need of medical care outside Gaza, where much of the medical infrastructure has been damaged.
The initially limited reopening of the crossing would be the first major step in the second phase of a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect on October 10. Other outstanding challenges include the demilitarization of the territory after nearly 20 years of Hamas control and the establishment of a new governing body to manage reconstruction.
Egypt, one of the brokers of the ceasefire talks, condemned the Israeli strikes in a statement issued “in the strongest terms”, warning that they posed a “direct threat to the political course” of the ceasefire. Qatar, another mediator, described the strikes as a “dangerous escalation” and claimed their continued strikes posed a “direct threat” to the political process.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Friday that at least 520 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the cease-fire began. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty data that is generally considered credible by UN agencies and independent experts.
The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel that left about 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, and resulted in the kidnapping of 251 people. The remains of the last hostage held in Gaza were found earlier this week.
