Israeli Strikes Kill Eight Palestinians in Gaza City and Khan Younis

Israeli strikes on 1 November 2026 killed at least eight Palestinians in two locations in the Gaza Strip, according to hospital officials and the territory's interior ministry. Three people, including a four-year-old boy, died in an attack near Cairo School in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City. Five police officers died in a separate strike in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.

Medics at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City received the three bodies from the northern strike. The interior ministry identified the five southern casualties as police officers aged between 23 and 53 who were on routine duty. The ministry described the al-Mawasi attack as a drone strike. Local sources said the munition hit near schools, producing panic among children in the area.

The Israeli military stated that it struck several militants in Khan Younis. It provided no further details and did not immediately comment on the Gaza City incident. Israel has said Hamas has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of the ceasefire that took effect in October 2025. Hamas has denied the claims and accuses Israel of undermining the agreement.

A relative of one of the Gaza City victims, Ali Oweis, told AFP that his son and grandson were sitting in their tent when a missile struck. He said the area had been quiet at the time. At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, body bags lay on the floor as relatives gathered. The interior ministry called the police killings a massacre.

Gaza health authorities report that at least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the October 2025 ceasefire. Israel reports four soldiers killed in the same period. Overall figures from the health ministry since October 2023 list more than 74,000 Palestinian deaths. The UN has verified a smaller number of conflict-related deaths through mid-2026.

Nearly all of Gaza's more than two million residents live in the remaining third of the territory, mostly in tents and damaged buildings under effective Hamas administration. Israeli forces control roughly two-thirds of the strip and have ordered residents out of those zones. Little progress has occurred on reconstruction provisions contained in the U.S.-brokered deal. Negotiations have not produced agreement on Hamas disarmament or a full Israeli withdrawal.

The 1 November strikes continued a pattern of near-daily Israeli operations since the truce began. Earlier in 2026, attacks in Rafah and other locations produced similar casualty reports. The current incidents occurred on the same day opposition leaders in India held a large rally and U.S. midterm campaigns intensified, but the Gaza events remain tied to the unresolved terms of the October 2025 agreement.

Hospital sources in both Gaza City and Khan Younis confirmed the death toll and the presence of a child among the northern casualties. No independent verification of the exact circumstances of each strike has been published by international monitors as of 2 November. The Israeli military's statement on the southern strike is the only official account from that side.

The ceasefire's durability depends on whether further strikes of this scale continue and whether mediators can reopen talks on the remaining points of the original deal. The immediate consequence is eight additional deaths and further displacement pressure on the population already concentrated in the southern and central zones.