An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians, including a three-year-old child, in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, health officials said. The strike near a bakery in Deir al-Balah marked the latest casualties as regional hostilities continue following a U.S.-backed ceasefire struck last October.
Deir al-Balah Airstrike Kills Child and Man
Sunday’s strike near a bakery in Deir al-Balah killed three-year-old Tayyem Hamdan and a man named Hussam Nusair, according to Gaza medics. Several other individuals sustained wounds in the same blast. The Israeli military stated that it targeted and killed a Hamas militant, alleging that Nusair had advanced attacks against Israeli forces and civilians. Hamas did not immediately comment on that military allegation.
The incident unfolds against the backdrop of a U.S.-backed ceasefire that took effect last October. While that agreement halted major fighting in the territory, it has failed to stop regular military strikes. The Israeli military maintains that its operations are designed to thwart attacks by Hamas and other Gaza militants.
Casualties Mount Across Gaza Strip
Additional strikes across Gaza have driven up the death toll. Local hospital officials reported Friday that separate Israeli strikes killed five people. Officials at Nasser Hospital said two brothers and another relative died when a strike hit their family home outside Khan Younis. Health officials at Shifa Hospital reported that two separate strikes killed one person each in Gaza City.
Medical sources in Gaza also reported that an Israeli strike on a residential building in Gaza City killed at least two Palestinians and wounded several others. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on that strike.
Ceasefire Tensions and Ongoing Toll
Hamas accuses Israel of violating the terms of the October ceasefire and undermining broader implementation efforts led by U.S. More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began, according to Gazan health officials. On the Israeli side, the military reports that four soldiers have been killed during the same period.
Wider Regional Escalation and Maritime Tensions
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran still seeks a negotiated solution to its conflict with the United States, telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that continued war was in no one’s interest and that dialogue and cooperation were the way to resolve existing problems. Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said a supertanker was struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz, catching fire and coming to a complete halt. The Guards said the vessel had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally and warned other ships that violating its security rules would result in the same fate.
The United Arab Emirates condemned an Iranian drone attack over its territorial waters as a dangerous escalation
and a violation of its sovereignty, saying it reserves the right to respond. The UAE said its air defenses intercepted the drone after it approached from Iran. Its Defense Ministry also denied reports that the Al Minhad Air Base had been targeted by missiles, calling them unfounded. UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash called for an end to the regional escalation and the restoration of normal navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, saying a state of neither war nor peace
cannot be sustained and that targeting Gulf states and Jordan has proven to be a failure.
U.S. Sanctions and Political Developments
U.S. President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video purporting to show Iran’s Kharg Island being blown to smithereens,
amid escalating tensions following the first U.S. strike on Iranian targets in roughly a month. There was no evidence several hours later that Kharg had been attacked. Iran’s national oil company later said operations at the key oil hub had not stopped.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that Washington is likely to impose new secondary sanctions on Iran every week, saying institutions that continue to handle Iranian funds could be cut off entirely from the dollar-based financial system. The Treasury Department launched the campaign, dubbed Operation Economic Outcast, last week. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the IDF confiscated personal vehicles and arrested people following recent settler violence in the West Bank village of Qusra. Huckabee told Haaretz that the U.S. has very strong engagement
with the IDF and Palestinian police to act on behalf of U.S. citizens, adding that Israeli forces had taken steps to dispel the tension.
Defense Acquisitions and Diplomatic Disputes
Greece and Israel signed a €3 billion deal for a multilayered Israeli air defense system, as part of Greece’s broader Achilles Shield
military modernization program. The system will include short-, medium- and long-range missile systems and radar. Greece plans to spend about €28 billion through 2036 on the program.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Israel and Russia spread and amplified disinformation surrounding last month’s mass entry of migrants into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta. Sánchez cited research by the European Union’s foreign service, saying it was “evident” that both countries had used the crisis to criticize his government amid disagreements over Madrid’s positions on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
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