At least eight people, among them a four-year-old boy, were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, according to hospitals. The attacks hit locations in the north and south of the territory, where a ceasefire has been in place for a year but Israeli air strikes have continued almost daily.
Hospital officials in Gaza City said a missile struck civilians gathered near Cairo School in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood. Three people were killed, including the boy. In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, the Hamas-run interior ministry said a drone struck police officers performing routine duties in the Al-Mawasi area, killing five.
The Israeli military acknowledged conducting two attacks, saying their targets were military operatives. It had not provided evidence or further details to support that description. The interior ministry identified the five people killed in Khan Younis as police officers aged between 23 and 53 and condemned the strike as a "horrific massacre".
Footage outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City showed men gathering for prayers beside two body bags and the child's small body, wrapped in a white towel. Ali Oweis told AFP that his son and grandchild had been killed. He said they had been sitting in their tent, disturbing no one, and that nothing else had been happening nearby when the missile hit.
Video from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis showed women in distress with body bags on the floor. The deaths in both cities came as the ceasefire, which took effect in October 2025, continued to be accompanied by frequent Israeli attacks. Israel says its strikes target Hamas, although civilians are often killed as well.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 1,580 people have been killed since the ceasefire began. The UN considers the ministry's figures reliable. Meanwhile, efforts to advance a Gaza peace plan brokered by the Trump administration have stalled.
Under the ceasefire, thousands of Palestinians detained by Israel were freed in exchange for all 48 hostages who remained held in Gaza. The arrangement also included an agreement to end the war.
The war began following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Gaza's health ministry reports that 74,594 people have been killed in the territory since the conflict began.
