Israel renewed shelling and bombardment of several areas across Gaza on Saturday in one of its most brutal breaches of the October ceasefire, killing at least 27 people, including children, local authorities said.
More than 30 people have been "severely injured", they said.
Israel targeted displacement tents where people have sought refuge from the cold under flimsy tarpaulin shelters, killing seven members of the same family, including five children, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
In the 111 days since the ceasefire began in October, Israel has killed civilians, including children, blocked aid, and deregistered humanitarian groups further restricting assistance in the strip.
Video showed blackened and destroyed walls at an apartment in a multistorey building, and debris scattered inside it and outside on the Gaza city street.
“We found my three little nieces in the street. They say ceasefire and all, what did those children do, what did we do?” Samer Al Atbash, a relative, told Reuters.
Hamas has handed over the last hostage captured from Israel on October 7, 2023 last week according to the US-brokered ceasefire agreement. A Palestinian paramedic in Gaza said he, and many others, “expected” that Israel would intensify its attacks on the Strip.
“You kept asking me whether I'm happy about the ceasefire. But this is what we all expected would happen. Why would they not attack us more now that Hamas has played its last trump?” he told The National.
The paramedic said that children were among those killed in Saturday's attacks.
Israel has “not adhered to the withdrawal lines” stipulated in the ceasefire agreement, did not allow the entry of materials necessary for repairing and rebuilding the damaged infrastructure and blocked the entry of heavy machinery for rubble removal and body recovery, Gaza's government media office said in a statement.
In another breach of the agreement, Israel has not opened the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for the entry of aid, return of Palestinians abroad and departure of the injured in need of medical treatment.
The crossing is expected to open on Sunday February 1, but only for “limited movement” of people only, the Israeli military said, suggesting aid lorries will continue to be blocked.
It said the only Palestinians allowed to return would be “residents who left Gaza during the course of the war”, and only after security clearance by Israel, which is stringent and is expected to slow down the process of return.
“We affirm that the continuation of these violations and breaches constitutes a dangerous circumvention of the ceasefire agreement and an attempt to impose a humanitarian equation based on subjugation, starvation, and extortion,” the Gaza media office said.
