Makeshift Tents Bombed: Israeli Strikes Across Gaza Kill 23

Israeli strikes killed 23 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, according to local health officials, underscoring how fragile the October ceasefire remains even after the reopening of the Rafah crossing. The latest deaths, including seven children and a medic, came just three days after Gaza’s main border gate with Egypt resumed limited operations, a key plank of a U.S.-backed truce framework.

Ceasefire Under Immediate Strain

Health officials said Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes struck multiple locations, including Khan Younis in southern Gaza and Gaza City in the north. Among the dead was a medic who rushed to help victims of an initial strike in Khan Younis and was then killed by a second attack at the same site.

In Gaza City, officials said a 5-month-old boy was killed. Abu Mohamed Habouch, speaking at a funeral, said: “While we were sleeping in our house, the tank shelled us and the shells hit our house, our children were martyred.” Tents in Mawasi, a coastal displacement area near Khan Younis, were ripped apart, according to local accounts.

Nearly all of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has been forced to flee their homes since fighting began.

The Israeli military said the strikes followed militant fire on Israeli troops near its armistice line with Hamas and later said one strike targeted a senior Hamas commander. It added that an Israeli soldier was severely injured in the exchange, calling the militant fire a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas said Israel’s actions undermined efforts to stabilize the truce and called for “immediate international pressure to halt violations.”

Rafah Crossing and Medical Access

The violence coincided with renewed uncertainty over humanitarian access. Palestinian patients preparing to cross through Rafah were initially told that Israel had postponed their passage.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said the crossing remained open but that it had not received the necessary details from the World Health Organization (WHO) to facilitate transfers.

An Egyptian security source told Reuters Israel cited security issues in the Rafah area for the temporary disruption, adding that operations later resumed.

Sixteen patients from Gaza and 40 escorts crossed into Egypt on Tuesday, Gazan medics said. A Hamas police source said at least 40 people crossed from Egypt into Gaza late the same day.

Reopening Rafah was one of the requirements under the October ceasefire that set out the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to halt fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Second Phase, Unresolved Core Issues

Trump declared the start of a second ceasefire phase in January, intended to address Gaza’s future governance and reconstruction. But central issues remain unresolved.

Since the ceasefire began, Israeli fire has killed nearly 560 people, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli soldiers over the same period, Israeli authorities said.

On Saturday, before Rafah reopened, Israeli air strikes have also killed more than 29 Palestinians.

Taken together, the latest deaths, disrupted medical evacuations, and unresolved ceasefire terms underscore the fragility of the current truce. With Israeli forces still controlling more than half of Gaza and core issues such as Hamas’s disarmament and postwar governance left unsettled, the pause in fighting continues to function less as a pathway to resolution than as a narrow window for humanitarian access that remains vulnerable to rapid collapse.