Latest update March 26th, 2026 12:30 AM
Israel attacks Gaza with artillery and air strikes despite ceasefire
(AL-JAZEERA) Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis came under Israeli army attack by a helicopter gunship and artillery fire despite the October 10 US-brokered truce as violations persist.
Prominent Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti has been severely beaten by Israeli prison guards leaving him “physically shattered”, his son says.
Israel’s military budget for next year is set at $34bn, up from $27bn budgeted in an earlier draft, as the defence minister vows “to ensure the security of the state of Israel on every front”.
Women react following the death of relatives killed in Israeli attacks in Khan Younis [File: Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
The Palestinian news service Wafa, citing local sources, said clashes broke out as Israeli troops stormed the camp, firing tear gas, sound grenades, and live ammunition.
A 45-year-old man was shot in the hand while another had his foot injured by shrapnel, it said.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 70,125 Palestinians and wounded 171,015 since October 2023. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks and about 200 taken captive.
Nestor Owomuhangi, the UN Population Fund’s representative to Palestine, says the truce between Israel and Hamas “was desperately needed but it is not an end to the war for women and girls” in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking during a UN briefing via video-link from Gaza, Owomuhangi said most Palestinian families in the enclave are living in overcrowded shelters “where hunger and disease threaten daily”
“More than 57,000 households in Gaza are now headed by women. Many of them are deeply vulnerable with no income to support their children,” he said, adding winter rain and flooding have worsened peoples’ suffering.
“People no longer ask for warmth, education or proper food. They ask for a tent, a small heater, or a light. Their expectations have collapsed, as devastating as any destroyed building.”
Intensified Israeli army raids in northern West Bank areas have caused displacement, school closures, and disruptions to local services, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says.
“Over 95,000 Palestinians were affected by expanded operations by Israeli forces in the northern area in recent days, particularly in Jenin and Tubas governorate,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York City.
At the same time, Dujarric said Israeli settler attacks have continued “unabated” in the West Bank, with at least 1,680 violent incidents that caused casualties or property damage documented by the UN’s humanitarian office so far this year.
Settler violence has affected more than 270 Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank. “That’s an average of five incidents per day,” Dujarric added.
Israeli ‘suicide drone’ wounds 2 Palestinians in northern Gaza
Israel’s military has attacked the al-Faluja area, near the Jabalia refugee camp, with an exploding drone wounding to people, the Quds News Network reports.
The drone strike is one of a series of attacks launched by Israel’s army on Friday despite the US-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.
Since the October 10 truce took effect, at least 366 Palestinians have been killed and 938 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
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