GAZA CITY — Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least four Palestinians, including a married couple and a 17-year-old, in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, according to Reuters.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed Akram Yassin and his wife Dina Abu Baker in an apartment in Gaza City. The Israeli military said it struck a militant in the area, without giving further details, Reuters reported. In Khan Younis, in the south, medics said a 17-year-old boy was killed by Israeli gunfire near the Qizan Al-Najar neighbourhood, while another person was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Zeitoun suburb east of Gaza City, taking Tuesday’s death toll to at least four. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on either gunfire incident, according to Reuters. “We’re supposed to be in a ceasefire period, but honestly, we are not seeing a ceasefire or anything. The war is still going on, assassinations are continuing, and the shelling has not stopped,” said Mahmoud Yassin, whose brother was killed, according to Reuters.
The deaths came a year into a ceasefire brokered by the United States that calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory. Israel says the Hamas militant group has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of the ceasefire, and has stepped up strikes on the group in recent weeks, according to Reuters. Hamas has denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal and accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza peace deal. Gaza health officials have said at least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire, while Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period, Reuters reported. Little progress has been made toward implementing the wider deal, which includes terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.
On the same day, the humanitarian system supporting Gaza’s civilians came under new strain. UNRWA USA warned on Tuesday that funding shortages have forced the U.N. World Food Programme to slash monthly food support for 500,000 people in Gaza, with overall resource rations halved as a fourth consecutive winter begins. “When sister agencies are forced to pull back, desperate families lean entirely on UNRWA’s overstretched shelters and distribution networks,” the organization said in a statement. It said financial support alone is insufficient while restrictions by Israeli authorities on lifesaving supplies persist, and called for consistent, unfettered aid entry into Gaza.
Why it matters: the combination of continued lethal fire a year into a ceasefire and a halving of food support for half a million people points to a worsening civilian situation even as the formal agreement remains in place. Aid agencies say cuts of this scale, at the start of winter, cannot be absorbed by other organizations already operating beyond capacity.
What happens next: UNRWA USA urged lawmakers to pass the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act to restore U.S. humanitarian funding, while the ceasefire’s next steps — Hamas disarmament and an Israeli troop withdrawal — remain unimplemented. Read the original Reuters report here.
