Israeli Operations Kill 1,005 Palestinians in Gaza Since Ceasefire With Hamas

Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 1,005 Palestinians since a ceasefire was reached between Israel and the militant group Hamas last October, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday in Deir al-Balah.

The enclave has seen near-daily strikes, as well as shelling and gunfire along the boundary that divides Gaza into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled zones, and the most recent deaths were recorded after a series of Israeli drone strikes in the past few days on towns and refugee camps in central Gaza and Gaza City.

- IMEMC News

Also Wednesday, an Israeli strike killed two Palestinians and wounded six others in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to health officials at Nasser Hospital.

Israel has said it is continuing to operate against Hamas and allied militants in Gaza and has expanded the amount of territory it controls inside the strip, while both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire.

In a separate statement Wednesday, the Israeli military said that it killed two militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in strikes over the weekend.

In the northern occupied West Bank, the Nour Shams Palestinians in the Tulkarem area faced demolitions announced by the Israeli army, with the Israeli army announcing the demolition of 25 new residential buildings in the Nour Shams camp on Monday, December 15.

RFI reported that the demolitions left around 100 families homeless, and on Wednesday, December 17 residents were able to return to their homes one last time to try to save what could be saved after access to the camp had been blocked since February.

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Al Jazeera reported that Palestinian families briefly returned to Tulkarem refugee camp after more than a year of forced displacement, finding homes and streets in ruins after months of Israeli military operations.

The RFI account described a window of barely two hours to salvage a lifetime, with residents sometimes returning only to find their homes ransacked.

In RFI’s reporting from Tulkarem, Fatma Naghnaghiyya, a 70-year-old Palestinian refugee, said she received the demolition order on Monday, December 15 and had only a short window on Wednesday to try to save what could be saved.

Beyond Gaza, TRT Français said Israel extended its military offensive in the refugee camps of Tulkarem and Nur Shams in the occupied West Bank, with the governor of Tulkarem, Abdullah Kamil, saying the Israeli army informed residents that its operation would continue until May 31.

TRT Français quoted Kamil saying, "This decision reflects a clear intent to continue this crime," and it said the Department of Refugee Affairs of the Palestine Liberation Organization condemned the decision as "a new episode in the ongoing aggression."

TRT Français also said that since October 2023, Israeli aggression in the occupied West Bank has killed 1,138 Palestinians, wounded about 11,700 others, and led to nearly 22,000 arrests.

In the same broader context of West Bank control, Anadolu Ajansı reported that Israeli authorities approved the construction of a Jewish religious school in Hebron and that the decision marked the first implementation of Israel’s announcement on Tuesday stripping the Palestinian Hebron municipality of its authority over building and planning.

Anadolu Ajansı said Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jabari told Anadolu on Tuesday that he rejects the removal of the municipality’s powers, stressing that it "cannot be bypassed or ignored under any circumstances."