Continued Israeli military strikes across Gaza kill three and wound 15

Israeli strikes across Khan Younis, Al-Bureij, and Gaza City killed three Palestinians, including a child, and wounded more than 15 others early Thursday, a medical source in Gaza’s Ministry of Health told Al Manassa, leaving dozens of displaced families homeless after homes and tents were destroyed minutes after evacuation orders.

In Khan Younis, Nasser Medical Complex received two bodies and five injured people—mostly children—after an Israeli reconnaissance drone launched a missile at a tent sheltering displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area, west of the city. A journalist told Al Manassa that the strike hit without warning during the early morning hours while families were sleeping.

In the central Gaza Strip, an airstrike on a home east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp killed a child and wounded three others. An eyewitness told Al Manassa that an Israeli military officer telephoned a resident, ordering the evacuation of a residential block containing homes and schools housing displaced persons, before striking the area roughly 17 minutes later.

“People were asleep when the call came,” the eyewitness said. “The army requested the evacuation of the residential block, and 17 minutes later, it struck a home in the area. Shrapnel hit a child, who was later pronounced dead at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.”

In Gaza City, six children sustained injuries after a kamikaze drone struck a residential apartment near Palestine Stadium in the city center. Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Al Manassa that emergency and firefighting crews extinguished the resulting blaze and evacuated the wounded, confirming that this attack too occurred without prior warning.

Shortly before midnight, the Israeli military issued three consecutive evacuation notices in Gaza City. An eyewitness told Al Manassa that an officer phoned a resident south of Al-Shati refugee camp, demanding the immediate clearing of a residential block prior to an attack on a house.

Residents fled their homes hastily, the witness explained, before a fighter jet dropped a missile only 12 minutes after the phone call. Although the first missile failed to explode, a second missile destroyed a three-story house belonging to the Shamiya family, causing extensive damage to neighboring structures.

Minutes later, residents in another sector of Al-Shati camp received a furhter phone order to evacuate a residential block housing three camps for displaced families.

“The army called our neighbor and instructed us to leave and move at least 250 meters away,” local resident Hassan Al-Zaharneh told Al Manassa. “We ran with our children and families without grabbing anything. We left the tents with all our bedding, clothes, and food.”

Al-Zaharneh added that the strike targeted a home belonging to the Matar family immediately adjacent to one of the displacement camps, destroying the building and burying dozens of tents under rubble.

“Thirty-five tents were buried under the rubble because of the strike, leaving 35 families stranded on streets and sidewalks after losing everything,” Al-Zaharneh said. “We previously lost our homes when they were destroyed in the war, and today we lost even our tents. They are chasing us even here. This is our life. To anyone saying the war is over, we say the war has not ended; we see death every day.”

Basal confirmed that the strike on the Shamiya home damaged six nearby houses and displaced more than 150 people. The bombing of the Matar home destroyed three adjacent houses and over 50 displacement tents.

Basal added that a third strike targeted commercial storefronts opposite the gate of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza City, setting fire to and destroying more than five shops.

Military strikes across the Gaza Strip continue despite a ceasefire agreement signed last October. Shelling continues to hit residential homes, tent clusters, hospital vicinities, and temporary shelters, forcing families into repeated cycles of displacement even within the areas where they sought refuge.