Israeli military strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 13 Palestinians, including several children, over two successive nights, Palestinian health and civil defence officials said on Sunday — even as a framework for Hamas disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal from the territory remained unsigned and unimplemented.
Gaza's Civil Defence Authority reported strikes on residential buildings across Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Deir el-Balah, a city in central Gaza. Among the dead were a father, mother and their nine-year-old son killed in Khan Younis, a couple whose apartment block was struck in Deir el-Balah, and an elderly man and a child killed in Gaza City. Separate strikes also hit a medical supplies warehouse belonging to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, destroying two of four medicine storage units entirely and badly damaging the others. The Israeli military said the building had been used as a hiding place and weapons storage facility by Hamas, and that it had taken advance steps to warn civilians. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had killed two Hamas commanders — one from the elite Nukba force, one from the Maghazi Battalion — and said all those targeted had been planning attacks on Israeli targets.
The strikes came days after US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace — a mediation body established under the Trump administration — announced that Hamas had accepted a 15-point disarmament roadmap. Under the plan, Hamas would cease military operations, hand over heavy weapons and dismantle armed infrastructure, while Israeli forces would progressively withdraw from the areas of Gaza they still control, currently estimated at around 70% of the territory. Hamas confirmed its acceptance but said the weapons handover process would not begin until Israel halted military operations and withdrew in accordance with a ceasefire agreed in Egypt last year. A Palestinian source told reporters that the factions had rejected any transfer of weapons to Israel or to any non-Palestinian party. Israel has not officially responded to the plan, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no public statement on it. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday that no deal had been reached to stop the attacks, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir described the plan as unacceptable and called for continued targeted killings of Hamas leaders.
The strikes are the latest in a pattern of ongoing military operations that have continued since a ceasefire was announced last October. According to Gaza's Health Ministry — whose figures the United Nations considers reliable — at least 1,222 Palestinians have been killed since that ceasefire came into effect, with 152 killed in July alone, the highest monthly toll of the year so far. The IDF reported the loss of five soldiers and one civilian contractor over the same period. Hamas — designated a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and European Union — has governed the Gaza Strip, a narrow coastal enclave of roughly 2.3 million people bordering Israel and Egypt, since 2007.
The continued strikes are deepening uncertainty over whether the disarmament deal can take hold. A Hamas political bureau member urged international mediators to pressure Israel to stop what he called violations of the ceasefire agreement, saying "the ball is in Israel's court." Jared Kushner, a senior adviser involved in the US initiative, was reported to be working with the Israeli side to halt the attacks. For civilians caught in the middle, the situation remains desperate. "We are living between hope and fear," said Abdallah al-Hou, a 33-year-old displaced from northern Gaza. "We want a real ceasefire, because every hour of delay means more victims."