# Israeli strikes kill at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza as ceasefire violence continues
Israeli forces killed at least 12 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to medical sources in the enclave, in another episode of violence despite the ceasefire that has been in place since October last year.
The dead included people hit in a police vehicle strike in Khan Younis, officers killed in Gaza City and two others killed when a house was bombed in Beit Lahiya in the north, according to the supplied Al Jazeera report. Gaza’s Ministry of Interior said the Khan Younis strike came after security forces intervened in a dispute, and urged the international community to stop what it described as the targeting of civilian police officers.
The ministry argued that police in Gaza were carrying out ordinary civilian duties and should not be treated as combatants. Hamas said the attacks reflected a failure by the international community to uphold the truce and called the escalation part of what it described as the Israeli government’s violent approach.
The reported deaths came as Israel continued carrying out strikes despite the ceasefire brokered by United States President Donald Trump in October of the previous year. The source says those attacks have persisted throughout the truce, with health authorities in Gaza recording hundreds of additional deaths and injuries since the agreement took effect.
The broader war, which began in October 2023, has left more than 72,500 people dead in Gaza, with over 172,000 wounded, according to the same report. It also says the enclave’s civilian infrastructure has been devastated and that most of Gaza’s structures have been reduced to rubble.
The article frames the continuing Israeli bombardment as part of a pattern that has included the targeting of police officers securing aid convoys and other civilian-facing functions. It also notes that reconstruction has not started and that an international security force envisioned under the truce has yet to be formed.
Those wider claims are important context, but the clearest verified fact in the supplied evidence is the same-day toll: at least 12 Palestinians killed in separate attacks across Gaza. The strike on a police vehicle, the deaths in Gaza City and the bombing in Beit Lahiya together show that the ceasefire has not stopped lethal military activity on the ground.
For residents, the practical meaning of the truce remains limited. The violence continues, the death toll rises and institutions meant to provide order remain under fire. The ceasefire exists on paper; Friday’s attacks showed how fragile it has become in practice.
