An Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people near a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Monday, as clashes between Hamas security personnel and an Israeli-backed militia spiralled into deadly drone strikes that left dozens more wounded.
The violence erupted east of Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, where members of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia had established a checkpoint before coming under attack from Hamas security forces. Israeli drones subsequently intervened, firing two missiles in strikes across three locations, witnesses said. The bodies of 10 victims were transported to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where a hospital spokesperson confirmed at least six people were in critical condition among the dozens injured.
Residents described a chaotic scene in which the militia had first attacked the school in an apparent attempt to abduct people sheltering there, prompting Palestinians to defend themselves before Israeli drones opened fire. "Residents tried to defend their homes but were targeted directly by occupation forces," said Ahmed al-Maghazi, a local witness.
The leader of the Israeli-backed militia claimed in a video statement that his forces had killed approximately five Hamas members during the confrontation. Hamas offered no immediate response to the claim.
The strike adds to a mounting toll since a ceasefire agreement was reached roughly six months ago. At least 723 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israeli attacks since that agreement, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The Israeli military, meanwhile, reported that five of its soldiers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian groups over the same period.
Maghazi camp carries a particularly painful history. Once home to approximately 30,000 residents according to UNRWA, its population more than tripled in the early months of the war as displaced Palestinians flooded into areas designated by the Israeli military as safe zones — a designation Maghazi itself held. In December 2023, an Israeli military strike on the camp killed more than 100 people, the majority of them displaced women and children.
Monday’s strike was not an isolated incident. Israel has continued to carry out attacks across the Gaza Strip since the October ceasefire, including repeated strikes on Maghazi. Separately, a World Health Organization staff member was killed when the Israeli army fired on their vehicle in Gaza, with several other WHO personnel injured in the same attack.
The bloodshed coincides with a deepening diplomatic impasse over the future of the conflict. Disarmament has emerged as a central stumbling block in efforts to advance to the second phase of US President Donald Trump‘s 20-point peace plan. A Hamas delegation travelled to Cairo to deliver its initial response to a disarmament proposal put forward by the US-led Board of Peace, which called on Palestinian armed groups to decommission their weapons.
Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, flatly rejected any discussion of disarmament until Israel fulfilled its commitments under the first phase of the plan. He framed Hamas’s armed struggle in Gaza as part of a broader confrontation between Israel and the United States on one side, and Iran and its regional allies on the other, praising missile, drone and rocket attacks on Israel carried out by Iranian forces, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously warned Hamas that disarmament would come "either the easy way or the hard way."
The war was triggered by a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response. More than 72,300 people have since been killed in the territory, according to Gaza’s health ministry, in what has become one of the deadliest conflicts in the region’s modern history.
