At least 25 people were killed, 77 others were injured after Israeli strikes in Gaza, in violation of the U.S.-brokered cease-fire, the blockaded Palestinian enclave's health ministry said Wednesday.
Gaza Civil Defense said the Israeli attacks targeted areas where its forces had withdrawn under the cease-fire agreement.
The Israeli army confirmed striking Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, claiming that it had responded to gunfire targeting its forces in Rafah, according to Army Radio.
A ministry statement said that some of the injured civilians are in critical condition.
The Israeli army launched a series of strikes in several areas in Gaza on Wednesday evening. The military claimed that the attacks were in response to gunfire targeting its force in Rafah in southern Gaza.
Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said the Israeli strikes targeted several areas in the Gaza Strip since the afternoon.
Basal said the attacks started with artillery shelling targeting a house in the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City, killing a young Palestinian.
Another strike hit a civilian gathering in the same neighborhood, killing one more civilian and injuring dozens of others, he added.
Israeli warplanes also struck the headquarters of Gaza's Endowments Ministry in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, killing five people, including a pregnant woman and a girl, the spokesman said.
In southern Gaza, three Palestinians were killed, and several others were injured in an Israeli strike on a group of civilians in Khan Younis, the spokesman said.
According to an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent, the attacks targeted areas from which the Israeli army withdrew in Gaza under the cease-fire deal that took effect on Oct. 10.
Palestinian group Hamas denounced the Israeli attacks as a "horrific massacre" and "a dangerous escalation through which war criminal (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu seeks to resume the genocide against our people."
It dismissed Israeli claims about gunfire on its forces as "a weak and exposed attempt to justify its crimes and violations."
Hamas called on Türkiye, the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar, as guarantors of the cease-fire agreement, to exert immediate pressure on Israel to end its violations that threaten the cease-fire.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 70,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, injured over 170,000, and reduced the enclave to rubble.
Since May 2024, Israel has controlled the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, after destroying and burning its buildings and banning Palestinians from traveling through it.
Israel has also been violating its cease-fire with Lebanon, by launching airstrikes on southern Lebanon. Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the cease-fire through its strikes and by maintaining forces inside its territory.
On Tuesday, Israel said it struck an alleged Hamas training compound in the crowded Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon.
At least 13 people were killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
