8 Killed in Gaza Strikes Despite Ceasefire, Hospitals Say

Israeli strikes killed eight people in Gaza, including a four-year-old boy, hospital officials said Sunday, as a ceasefire now more than a year old fails to halt near-daily attacks across the territory.

In Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, hospital officials said a missile hit a group of civilians next to Cairo School in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, killing three people, including the child. In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior said a drone strike targeted a group of police officers in the Al-Mawasi area, killing five, as they carried out what the ministry described as routine duties.

What happened in Gaza City and Khan Younis?

Outside Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, video showed men gathered to pray beside two body bags and the small body of the child, wrapped in a white towel, according to the BBC. Ali Oweis, whose son and grandson were among the dead, told AFP, as cited by the BBC: "My son and his child were martyred. They were sitting in their tent, bothering no one, and nothing else was happening in the area when suddenly, a missile struck them, and they were martyred. There is no ceasefire; the war is ongoing, don't you see?"

At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, women wept as body bags lay on the floor, video showed. The Ministry of Interior named the five police officers killed, who ranged in age from 23 to 53, and called the strike a "horrific massacre."

What does Israel say about the strikes?

The Israeli military said it carried out two attacks on what it described as military operatives, but it had not yet provided evidence or further detail at the time of reporting, according to the BBC. Israel has said throughout the conflict that it targets Hamas fighters and infrastructure, while acknowledging that civilians are often killed in the process.

How many people have died since the ceasefire began?

The ceasefire took effect in October last year, but Israeli air strikes have continued almost every day since. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable, says 1,580 people have been killed in the territory since the ceasefire began. Since the war started, 74,594 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the same ministry.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage, the BBC reported. Under the ceasefire, thousands of Palestinians held by Israel were released in exchange for all 48 remaining hostages held in Gaza, alongside an agreement intended to end the war.

What is the status of the Gaza peace plan?

A broader peace plan for Gaza, brokered by the Trump administration, has stalled, according to the BBC's reporting. The ceasefire has not translated into a halt in Israeli military action, and strikes such as Sunday's have continued to kill civilians and, in this case, police officers operating under the Hamas-run interior ministry.

A separate BBC Verify investigation, published October 15, found that hundreds of Israeli military investigations into killings in Gaza still have no public outcome, a gap that has drawn scrutiny as the death toll under the ceasefire climbs.

Who were the victims?

The dead in Gaza City included a four-year-old boy and two others killed near Cairo School, hospital officials said. In Khan Younis, the five police officers killed were between 23 and 53 years old, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior, which identified them by name in its statement reported by the BBC. The ministry said the men were carrying out routine duties in the Al-Mawasi area, a zone that has sheltered large numbers of displaced Palestinians during the war.

Neither the Israeli military's statement nor the hospital accounts, as relayed by the BBC, resolved the underlying dispute over who the strikes targeted and why. Israel described its targets as military operatives; Gaza's health and interior ministries described the dead as police performing ordinary duties and civilians sitting in a tent. The ceasefire, now past its one-year mark, has not closed that gap.

The BBC's Hugo Bachega, reporting from Jerusalem, noted that funding shortages have separately forced the World Food Programme to cut aid to Gaza, a strain compounding the territory's conditions as the strikes continue.