Israel launches strikes in Gaza ceasefire’s latest test as hospitals say 24 killed

Palestinians wheel the body of a man killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip to the morgue at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) (Abdel Kareem Hana)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s military on Saturday launched airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza in the latest test of the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said five senior Hamas members were killed. Health officials in Gaza reported at least 24 people killed and another 54 wounded, including children.

The strikes, which Israel said were in response to gunfire at its troops, came after international momentum on Gaza, with the U.N. Security Council on Monday approving the U.S. blueprint to secure and govern the territory. It authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

Israel has previously carried out similar waves of strikes after reported attacks on its forces during the ceasefire. At least 33 Palestinians were killed over a 12-hour period Wednesday and Thursday, mostly women and children, health officials said.

`A fragile ceasefire’

One of Saturday’s strikes targeted a vehicle, killing 11 and wounding over 20 Palestinians in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The majority of the wounded were children, director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.

Associated Press video showed children and others inspecting the blackened vehicle, whose top was blown off.

A strike targeting a house near Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza killed at least three people and wounded 11 others, according to the hospital. It said a strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza killed at least seven people including a child and wounded 16 others.

Another strike, targeting a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killed three people, including a woman, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital.

“Suddenly, I heard a powerful explosion. I looked outside and saw smoke covering the entire area. I couldn’t see a thing. I covered my ears and started shouting to the others in the tent to run,” said Khalil Abu Hatab in Deir al-Balah. “When I looked again, I realized the upper floor of my neighbor’s house was gone.”

He added: “It’s a fragile ceasefire. This is not a life we can live. There’s no safe place.”

Israel’s military in a statement said it launched attacks against Hamas after an “armed terrorist” crossed into an Israeli-held area and shot at troops in southern Gaza. It said no soldiers were hurt. The military said the person had used a road on which humanitarian aid enters the territory, and called it an “extreme violation” of the ceasefire.

In other statements, the military said soldiers killed 11 “terrorists” in the Rafah area and detained six others who tried to flee an underground structure. It also said its forces killed two others who crossed into Israeli-held areas in northern Gaza and advanced toward soldiers.

Israeli forces remain in just over half of Gaza after withdrawing from some areas under the ceasefire.

A senior member of Hamas’ political bureau, Izzat al-Rishq, in a statement accused Israel of “fabricating pretexts to evade the (ceasefire) agreement and return to the war of extermination” and said Hamas had urged the U.S. and other mediators to compel Israel to implement the agreement.

The Hamas statement didn’t comment on the claim by Netanyahu’s office of five senior members killed.

The toll of war

The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and took over 250 hostage. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals. The remains of three are still in Gaza.

Israelis rallied again on Saturday night in Tel Aviv, demanding a state commission of inquiry into the events around the Oct. 7 attack.

“The government of Israel failed in its most important mission: to protect its children, to protect its citizens, not to abandon soldiers on the battlefield without rescue and without assistance,” said Rafi Ben Shitrit, father of Staff Sgt. Shimon Alroy Ben Shitrit, who was killed in the attack.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says 69,733 Palestinians have been killed and 170,863 injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. The toll has gone up during the ceasefire both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures but has said women and children make up a majority of those killed. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

Wafaa Shurafa, The Associated Press