Israeli Fire Kills Three in Gaza, Including Child, Despite Truce

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians, including a child, in separate attacks across Gaza on Monday, according to medical sources at the Nasser Medical Complex and witness accounts relayed by Al Jazeera. The deaths came nearly a year after Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire agreement in October, an accord that halted the most intensive phase of the war but has not stopped Israeli fire on Palestinians in the enclave.

The child, identified as Ismail al-Bardawil, was killed after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians inside the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza, an area Israel has designated a "safe zone," sources at Nasser Medical Complex told Al Jazeera. Nine other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire elsewhere in the enclave the same day, the outlet reported.

Who Was Killed in Monday's Attacks

Al-Bardawil died in al-Mawasi, the designated safe zone in southern Gaza where displaced families have sheltered in tents, according to Nasser Medical Complex sources cited by Al Jazeera. In Jabalia, in northern Gaza, a Palestinian man died from wounds sustained in Israeli gunfire, the outlet reported. A third victim, a woman, was killed in a separate shooting in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza. Among the nine additional wounded in the Bureij refugee camp and Khan Younis, two women and a child were hurt, according to the Anadolu news agency.

Where Israeli Fire Struck Gaza

The attacks spanned the length of the strip. In Jabalia al-Balad, a woman was critically wounded when Israeli forces opened fire east of the Jabalia refugee camp, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. Witnesses also described shelling and heavy tank fire from Israeli forces in the Shakoush area, north of Rafah. Near Khan Younis, Anadolu reported that three Palestinians, including a woman, were shot when Israeli forces opened fire toward the Hamad City residential area, and two others were wounded by shrapnel from an artillery shell in the al-Amal neighborhood in central Khan Younis.

How Many Palestinians Have Died Since the October Ceasefire

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has documented 1,394 deaths and 4,839 injuries in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October, according to figures reported by Al Jazeera. The ministry has recorded at least 73,914 deaths in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023, the outlet reported. Israeli officials have not issued a competing casualty count for the post-ceasefire period in the material reviewed for this report.

What Does the Ceasefire Require

The agreement signed by Israel and Hamas last October was billed publicly as a ceasefire, but Al Jazeera's reporting notes no withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza has taken place since it was signed, and attacks on Palestinians have continued. The source material does not specify the full text of the agreement's troop-withdrawal provisions or a timeline for compliance, and neither the Israeli government nor Hamas is quoted directly in the Al Jazeera dispatch explaining Monday's incidents.

What to Watch

• Whether the Palestinian Ministry of Health updates its post-ceasefire casualty count following Monday's deaths and the nine additional wounded.
• Whether Israeli military officials issue a public account of the incidents in al-Mawasi, Jabalia, Deir el-Balah, and Khan Younis.
• Whether any Israeli troop withdrawal begins in Gaza, a step Al Jazeera's reporting says has not occurred since the October ceasefire was signed.
• Whether mediators or ceasefire guarantors respond to continued reports of gunfire in designated "safe zones" such as al-Mawasi.

The originating report did not include comment from the Israeli military on Monday's specific incidents. HTT News will update this report if Israeli authorities or Hamas issue statements addressing the deaths.

What Has Changed Since the Ceasefire Took Effect

The October agreement was framed publicly as a ceasefire, but Al Jazeera's reporting describes it in quotation marks throughout, reflecting the gap between the accord's stated aim and conditions on the ground. No Israeli troop withdrawal has taken place since the agreement was signed, and Palestinians in Gaza continue to face gunfire, shelling, and tank fire in areas including designated safe zones, according to the outlet. Monday's toll of three dead and nine wounded fits a pattern the Ministry of Health has tracked for nearly a year: 1,394 deaths and 4,839 injuries recorded in Gaza since the ceasefire's start, a period during which the enclave was expected to see reduced hostilities.

The cumulative wartime death count, 73,914 since October 7, 2023, according to the Ministry of Health figures cited by Al Jazeera, continues to climb even as diplomats and mediators have described the ceasefire as holding. Al Jazeera's report does not include a statement from Israeli military officials addressing why forces opened fire in al-Mawasi, an area Israel itself designated as safe for displaced civilians, or in the other locations where Monday's casualties occurred.