Palestine weekly: Israel kills dozens in Gaza after Hamas disarmament deal
The agreement was negotiated through the Board of Peace, established by Trump to oversee post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza. However, Hamas negotiator Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera the Palestinian group would not implement the deal unless Israel fulfilled its obligations, which include halting attacks and withdrawing troops. A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, meanwhile, said Israeli forces would not withdraw until Hamas was fully disarmed. With that fundamental deadlock unresolved, Israeli attacks on Gaza, which have characterised the 10-month “ceasefire”, continued, arguably with even greater intensity. Within days of the announcement of the “historic agreement”, Israeli strikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in a single day, bringing the weekend death toll in Gaza to 26. Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov condemned the escalation without naming Israel directly: “Two days of strikes across Gaza have killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies that people depend on,” he said. The attacks capped a month that was the deadliest in Gaza this year, and the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in terms of Israeli settler attacks, since 2023. On Sunday, strikes hit families in their homes. In Gaza City’s al-Sousi Tower, a strike killed Abdullah Abu Taif, 33, his pregnant wife, Abeer Anan, 29, and their five-year-old son, Azzam. Medics recovered the remains of an unborn child from the rubble, according to sources at al-Shifa Hospital. In al-Qarara, near Khan Younis, a strike on an apartment killed Mahmoud al-Hams, 38, his wife, Fatima, 37, and their young daughter. Three others were wounded, medics at Nasser Hospital said. Near Deir el-Balah, an elderly couple, Kamal and Huda Abu Muailiq, 68 and 59, were also killed in their home. A separate strike killed two brothers riding a motorbike in the same area. Later that evening, a strike on a tent sheltering displaced people in Gaza City’s Remal.