Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip killed at least 24 Palestinians on February 4, 2026, according to health officials in the territory. The dead included at least five children, seven women and an on-duty paramedic. At least 38 other people were wounded.
The Israeli military said some strikes were launched after gunfire seriously wounded a reservist and that others targeted leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The violence placed further strain on a ceasefire that had taken effect on October 10 after more than two years of war.
In Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood, Israeli troops fired on a building, killing at least 11 people, most from one family, according to Shifa Hospital. Those killed included two parents, their 10-day-old daughter, her five-month-old cousin and the children’s grandmother. Israel said the attack was an immediate response to fire directed at its soldiers.
A strike on a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killed at least three people and wounded 10, a field hospital operated by the Palestinian Red Crescent said. One of the dead was a paramedic working at the time. Israel said that attack killed Bilal Abu Assi, whom it identified as a Hamas platoon commander involved in the October 7, 2023, assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz. The military said it used surveillance and precision weapons to limit civilian harm and expressed regret for harm to bystanders.
Another tent strike in Khan Younis killed three people, including a 12-year-old boy, Nasser Hospital said. An Israeli military official said three people approaching Israeli-controlled territory had posed an immediate threat to troops. In Gaza City’s al-Shati refugee camp, another attack killed one person and wounded another. Israel said it had targeted a Hamas cell leader connected to the death of an Israeli soldier abducted from the Nahal Oz observation post. It also reported killing an Islamic Jihad leader in northern Gaza. The reporting did not independently verify the identities or roles claimed by the military.
Gaza health officials said Israeli action had killed 556 Palestinians since the ceasefire began, about half of them women and children. Israel said four of its soldiers had been killed during the same period and maintained that its attacks responded to violations or threats. Eight Arab and Muslim countries, including mediators Egypt and Qatar, had recently condemned what they described as repeated Israeli breaches.
Some provisions of the truce had advanced. Hamas released all hostages it was holding, Israel freed several thousand Palestinian detainees, aid deliveries increased and a technocratic committee was appointed to manage daily administration in Gaza. Yet the continued deaths and repeated armed incidents showed that the agreement had not produced a complete cessation of violence.
