On the event date, June 25, 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 78 people in the Gaza Strip, including at least 14 Palestinians who were waiting near aid distribution centres, according to medical sources quoted by Al Jazeera. The violence came at the same time as U.S. President Donald Trump said great progress was being made toward ending the war and suggested the conflict could be close to a deal.
The deadliest reported episode involved people gathered near aid points run by the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Hospitals in Gaza told Al Jazeera that at least nine people were killed and several others injured by Israeli fire near the Netzarim Junction in central Gaza. The report said the aid system has become a flashpoint because distribution sites are placed near Israeli forces, including tanks, armoured vehicles and snipers, leaving crowds exposed when they gather in hopes of receiving food parcels.
Other killings were reported across the enclave. Al Jazeera said five people died in the bombing of a home in Deir el-Balah, while three more family members were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp. A resident speaking to Reuters described a strike on a shelter at the al-Shawwa fuel station in Gaza City, where roughly a dozen people were said to have been inside when the building was hit. The report also said another attack struck tents sheltering displaced people and killed at least 13, including children. Taken together, the cases show that the day's death toll was spread across aid lines, homes and temporary shelters rather than concentrated in a single battlefield.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the war had killed at least 56,077 people and wounded 131,848. On the Israeli side, the military said seven soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza on Tuesday, all members of the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a very difficult day for the people of Israel. The overlapping losses underscored that, even as ceasefire diplomacy gained momentum, fighting remained intense.
That diplomacy was visible in comments from several sides. Qatar's prime minister said indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas could begin within two days, while a senior Hamas official said talks with mediators in Egypt and Qatar had intensified. Trump, speaking in The Hague during a NATO summit, said his envoy Steve Witkoff had told him Gaza was very close to a peace deal. A Chatham House analyst quoted by Al Jazeera said many Israelis wanted the remaining captives released and believed Trump could get there faster than Netanyahu.
Israel said previous shootings near GHF sites were provoked by the approach of suspects toward soldiers, and the GHF denied responsibility, but the report said the Palestinian Ministry of Health described conditions in hospitals as catastrophic. The remaining facilities were overcrowded and running out of time, with emergency wards and intensive care units stretched beyond capacity. The result was a day in which battlefield violence and diplomatic optimism moved in opposite directions, and neither seemed close to stopping the other.
