CAIRO: Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, as a US-based research group reported a surge in Israeli attacks to levels not seen since the latest truce took effect in October.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed two people near the Tuffah neighbourhood in the north of the enclave, while a third person was killed in Israeli tank shelling in the Zeitoun suburb in eastern Gaza City.

Another airstrike at a tent encampment for displaced people in western Gaza City killed one person and wounded several, while an attack on a vehicle in Khan Younis, in the south, killed another, medics said. Witnesses also reported that an airstrike hit a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, causing damage to several homes nearby.

The deaths add to a toll of more than 1,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to Gazan health officials.

“The entire people of Gaza have not lived a single day or a single moment of ceasefire. This ceasefire is an illusion,” Jibril Khattab, a relative of one of the fatal victims, said in Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital. “No place in all of Gaza is safe,” he added.

The truce halted major fighting, but has failed to stop near daily Israeli strikes. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.

Conflict monitor ACLED, which tracks Israeli attacks in Gaza, said airstrikes against Hamas and other fighters increased to more than 40 in June, the highest monthly total since the ceasefire.

“With polls showing the opposition in the lead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing domestic pressure to take a tougher security position against Hamas,” ACLED Middle East Assistant Research Manager Nasser Khdour said, referring to Israel’s legislative election in October.

Nearly all of Gaza’s two million people now live on a tiny strip of land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2026