Israeli airstrikes on Monday killed at least five Palestinians, including an eight-year-old boy, in two separate locations in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources and civil defence officials. A drone strike near a bridge in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, killed three people, among them Malik Wael Abu Shawish, 8, and wounded five others. Hours later, an airstrike on a tent on the beach west of Khan Younis killed two and injured more than 27, including three critically, witnesses and medics said. The Israeli military confirmed carrying out strikes, saying they targeted “jihadist terrorists” and a Hamas operative, respectively, and stated that the results were under evaluation. It disputed the reported casualty figures from the second strike, asserting they did not match its information, and said it made efforts to limit civilian harm.

The Gaza health ministry, which operates under Hamas, said the attacks brought the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since Saturday to at least 12. Hamas has accused Israel of systematically violating the truce. Israel maintains that its operations are directed at militants who pose an immediate threat to its forces or who participated in the October 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war. Nikolay Mladenov, the US-appointed Board of Peace envoy to Gaza, has stated that both parties have breached the ceasefire agreement, which was mediated by Washington and took effect in October 2024.

Beyond the airstrikes, Palestinian witnesses and security sources reported that Israeli forces advanced the so-called “Yellow Line” — a security buffer imposed inside Gaza — by approximately 150 metres westward near the Nuseirat refugee camp, extending the area under Israeli control. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military now controls about 70 percent of the enclave, while other Israeli officials put the figure at 60 percent. The army also demolished buildings east of Khan Younis and east of Gaza City, and opened fire toward displaced persons’ tents in Al-Mawasi, northwest of Rafah, though no injuries were reported there. In the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces during an operation in Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Since the ceasefire began eight months ago, 1,045 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, according to figures from each side. The overall death toll since October 2023 exceeds 73,000 Palestinians, with nearly 90 percent of civilian infrastructure destroyed or damaged, according to Gaza authorities. The truce, intended to halt the deadliest round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in decades, remains in place but is punctuated by near-daily Israeli airstrikes and ground incursions. No new diplomatic initiative has been announced, and the ceasefire’s enforcement mechanisms remain a point of contention between the parties.