Israel is continuing its criminal genocide and violation of the Gaza cease-fire, killing as many as 16 Palestinians, including a child, in the two days since Hamas announced it was preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of a US-brokered peace deal.

Palestinian and medical sources in Gaza reported that at least eight Palestinians were killed on Wednesday by Israeli bombing and gunfire across several parts of the Strip. Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, said an Israeli drone fired a missile at a tent sheltering displaced people south of Khan Younis, killing four people instantly and wounding several others.

He added that another drone strike in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City hit a group of Palestinians, killing one person and injuring others, while separate Israeli gunfire killed a child from the Zeitoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City.

Earlier in the day, medical sources reported that a truck driver was shot dead by Israeli forces in the al‑Mawasi area west of Rafah, and the Al‑Shifa Medical Complex later confirmed that an eight‑year‑old child died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle in the al‑Sabra neighborhood on Tuesday evening. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on any of these incidents.

Gaza‑based health authorities said hospitals received eight dead and 17 wounded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since a cease-fire was declared on October 10, 2025 to 1,084 and the number wounded to 3,491.

On Tuesday, Israeli strikes and gunfire killed eight Palestinians in different parts of the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza health officials and medics. Medics reported that an Israeli air strike hit the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing a man and wounding two children. A separate strike near a tent encampment housing displaced families in western Gaza City killed one person and wounded five others.

Later, a third reported air strike in Khan Younis killed one person and wounded three others. In all cases, as they have done throughout the Gaza genocide, the Israeli military claimed the strikes were targeted against “militants.”

The Popular Resistance Committees, a long‑standing armed group, said one of the Khan Younis strikes killed Waheed Abu Salem, identified by the group as a senior leader. In Rafah, in southern Gaza, medics and witnesses said Israeli gunfire killed one Palestinian and wounded nine others.

In Gaza City’s Tel al‑Hawa neighborhood, an Israeli air strike hit a vehicle, killing three people, including a child, according to medics. One of those killed in Tel al‑Hawa was identified as Mohammad al‑Waheidi, who worked for the Egyptian relief committee providing aid in Gaza.

In central Gaza’s Deir al‑Balah, residents described how children try to play football in sandy paths between destroyed buildings, while adults navigate areas still littered with rubble and, in some cases, uncollected bodies.

The deaths over 48 hours in Gaza are part of the continuing lethal attacks that violate the US‑mediated cease-fire announced eight months ago. And beyond Gaza, UN human rights and humanitarian agencies have reported deadly incidents in the occupied West Bank in recent days.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that Israeli forces shot and killed a 16‑year‑old Palestinian at Qalandiya camp near Jerusalem on Sunday, while two other children were shot in the lower limbs.

OCHA described the episode as “another reminder that Palestinians in the West Bank must be protected, as required by law, and that perpetrators of violations must be held accountable.” The agency also documented the death of a critically ill four‑month‑old infant in the Ramallah governorate on Sunday.

The baby died after Israeli forces refused to open a gate blocking the main entrance to his village, delaying access to medical care while an ambulance waited on the other side. OHCHR called it an example of “senseless” deaths caused by movement restrictions place on Palestinians by Israel.

Both child deaths were described by Ajith Sunghay, head of UN human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as “emblematic of an occupying power continuing to show utter disregard for the humanity and rights of Palestinians living under occupation.”

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza was captured in a recent CNN report describing bodies lying unclaimed and rats running rampant in areas where families are living amid ruins. In Deir al‑Balah, central Gaza, journalists found a patch of sandy ground where makeshift graves and partially decomposed bodies remain in the open because relatives have been displaced or killed and authorities lack the capacity to recover and rebury the dead.

As temperatures rise, the report describes how the smell of decomposition hangs over nearby tented areas, and residents fear disease outbreaks. CNN also recounted scenes of rats “running rampant” through these areas, entering tents and informal shelters at night and biting children as they sleep.

One local resident told the network that parents are forced to stay awake to try to swat away rats and other vermin, turning nights into desperate vigils rather than rest. Humanitarian workers described these conditions as a “public health nightmare,” with limited pest control, scarce clean water and a health system already gutted by months of war.

Against this backdrop, Hamas has moved to dismantle its governing structures in Gaza in line with cease-fire arrangements brokered with international mediation. On Monday, the group announced that it had dissolved its government in Gaza and was preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of a US‑brokered ceasefire deal.

A Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, described the decision as a “clear” move to end “all governmental entities overseeing affairs in Gaza and transfer their duties to an independent technocratic committee.”

Hamas has governed Gaza for nearly two decades, since it assumed power of the strip in 2007. An Islamist Palestinian movement founded in 1987, Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the elections of January 2006. Factions of the Zionist state, including Netanyahu, encouraged Islamist Palestinians and stoked the conflict between Hamas and the Fatah faction of the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which had ruled Gaza for the previous 13 years following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.

According to sources within Hamas, a delegation is due in Cairo to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire agreement with Israel and finalize consensus on the members of the administrative committee. That second phase reportedly includes a complete military withdrawal from Gaza by Israeli forces, the disarmament of Hamas, large‑scale reconstruction, and the formation of a transitional governing body to administer the enclave.

The nearly defunct “Board of Peace,” the US‑backed body created by the Trump administration to oversee elements of the cease-fire and reconstruction framework, acknowledged the announcement but stressed it would judge Hamas “on actions, not promises.”

In a statement on X, the Board said the technocratic committee “must gain control over all arms in Gaza, as stipulated in the cease-fire agreement,” signaling that Washington and its partners see disarmament and security control as crucial tests.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the Hamas announcement by insisting Israel will not withdraw from Gaza in the near term. On the ground, Israeli troops continue to control more than 60 percent of Gaza, patrolling what Netanyahu has described as a buffer zone to deter renewed attacks, and carrying out periodic strikes they say are aimed at remaining militants.

Netanyahu’s broader regional perspective was spelled out in a recent speech at a graduation ceremony for combat officers in southern Israel. In that address, he stated that Israeli forces would “remain in southern Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza for as long as required.” His comment came amid ongoing Israeli operations in southern Lebanon and reported strikes on targets in Syria.

The prime minister’s insistence that Israel will not withdraw from Gaza aligns with previous statements that the IDF will remain in neighboring territories “as long as required.” This shows that any transition of power in Gaza’s civil administration under a UN‑backed committee is unlikely to be accompanied by a complete end to Israeli military presence.