Israeli strikes killed at least four Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a 13-year-old girl hit by tank shrapnel, as the fragile ceasefire that took effect eight months ago continues to fray with near-daily casualties. Eileen al-Farra died from wounds sustained during Israeli tank shelling in southern Gaza, health officials at Nasser hospital reported. Two others were killed in a strike on a group of people in northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya, with another person wounded. A fourth victim, a man, was killed in a separate strike in southern Gaza.
The Israeli military didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the strikes, but said one targeted a "Hamas terrorist," without providing details. Israel maintains it targets Hamas and other militants who pose a threat and acts in response to ceasefire violations. Palestinians reported heavy tank shelling and surveillance quadcopters buzzing overhead throughout the day.
The Human Cost Since October's Ceasefire
Gaza's Health Ministry said Israel has killed more than 1,040 people in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect in October 2025. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records seen as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It doesn't distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of all deaths. Israel has said five soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.
The ceasefire was meant to ease the heaviest fighting after a war that began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,050 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Shifting Targeting Strategy
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel's targeting strategy is constantly shifting across all fronts. Not long ago, Israel was engaged in active conflict in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, but there's now a broad ceasefire across these fronts. Despite that ceasefire, the IDF announced attacks on all three fronts on Sunday.
In Gaza, the Post said the IDF announced more attacks on Hamas, but the Hamas fighter killed Sunday wasn't a name known for having killed or kidnapped an Israeli during the Oct. 7 massacre. Instead, the person was a Hamas operative who stole an IDF vehicle that day. The Post said the fighter was nowhere near the border or Israeli troops, but was driving, armed, around the center of Hamas-run areas.
This showed Israel is running out of quality targets in Gaza because it's killed so many senior and mid-level Hamas officials and is targeting just about anyone connected to Hamas and carrying a weapon, however low-ranked, even if they pose no current threat, the Post reported. At the start of the US-brokered Gaza deal in October 2025, Israel was very strict and only targeted Hamas fighters who approached its soldiers. The Post said this change is the clearest and most obvious.
Disarmament Impasse and Escalation
The Post reported that the Trump administration has given Israel carte blanche to kill Hamas officials in Gaza from the air, as long as it doesn't lead to large civilian casualties and as long as there's no invasion. Hamas has dragged its feet on even partial disarmament since the beginning of the ceasefire, ignoring the 100-day deadline for progress, which passed in the middle of winter, according to the Post. When the Board of Peace made Hamas a friendlier offer to get partial disarmament started, the Gaza terror group still played games, the Post said. Israel is hoping more aggressive airstrikes might press Hamas into at least starting a disarmament process.
Why This Matters:
The death of a 13-year-old girl and three others in a single day reveals how Gaza's ceasefire exists more on paper than in practice for the territory's 2.3 million residents. More than 1,040 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began eight months ago — a pace of violence that would be called war in any other context. The shift in Israeli targeting from immediate threats to low-level operatives driving in Hamas-controlled areas suggests the military campaign has moved beyond security imperatives into a broader effort to pressure Hamas through sustained strikes. That pressure falls heaviest on civilians living in areas where armed groups operate. With Hamas refusing to disarm and Israel expanding its target list, the gap between ceasefire and actual peace grows wider, and the human cost continues to mount in a conflict now in its second anniversary with no political resolution in sight.