Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, health officials said on Sunday, marking one of the deadliest days since the October ceasefire and defying mounting international pressure to halt military operations under a US-backed peace framework.
The attacks struck residential buildings, tent encampments, and civilian infrastructure across Gaza City and Deir el-Balah. Among the dead were Kamal Abu Muailiq, 68, and his wife Huda Abu Muailiq, 59, killed in an air raid on Deir el-Balah, according to medical sources and the Gaza Health Ministry. Residents described scenes of chaos as rescue teams dug through rubble searching for survivors.
The strikes came as a Board of Peace envoy met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss the newly announced Hamas disarmament deal. The US-led Board of Peace, which oversees Gaza’s postwar transition, urged Israel to cease all military operations in the Strip, a demand Israeli officials rebuffed, citing ongoing security threats from Palestinian armed factions.
Israel said it had “serious security concerns” about the disarmament agreement, which was announced by President Donald Trump on Thursday as part of the broader ceasefire framework first reached in October 2025. Under the deal, Hamas and allied factions would progressively decommission their weapons in exchange for a sustained cessation of Israeli military activity and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
The IDF said the strikes targeted Hamas operatives who were advancing plans to attack Israeli troops and civilians. A separate strike in the Shati camp of Gaza City killed Jalal Sobieh, identified by the military as a commander in Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah Battalion. The IDF said both targets were eliminated to remove imminent threats, but critics argued the operations violated the terms of the ceasefire.
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey issued a joint statement condemning the ongoing Israeli violations, warning that continued attacks on medical and civilian infrastructure threaten the fragile ceasefire. The three nations called on all parties to honor their commitments under the peace framework, which had been hailed as a breakthrough when it was announced last week.
At least 1,250 Palestinians have been killed since the October ceasefire was reached, according to Gaza health authorities. The broader death toll from the war has surpassed 73,000, with vast portions of the coastal territory reduced to rubble since the conflict escalated in late 2023.
Senior Palestinian figure Mohammad Dahlan had claimed late Saturday that US envoy Jared Kushner assured him Israel would halt strikes, only to delete the post less than two hours later. A Board of Peace official separately walked back a claim that Hamas disarmament had already begun, adding to confusion over the pace and scope of the agreement. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the IDF had struck Gaza for the first time in roughly a day on Sunday, suggesting a brief lull before operations resumed.
Sources: Al Jazeera, The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel
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