Reem Asaad Awad was 33 years old when an Israeli airstrike killed her early Wednesday in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood. Two others, including a girl, were injured, according to a medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital who spoke to Türkiye's Anadolu Agency. Hospital staff brought Awad's body and the two wounded there together.
The strike hit more than one apartment. It caused extensive destruction to the targeted unit and neighboring buildings, the medical source said, and a large fire broke out afterward. Civil defense crews extinguished it later.
Civilian Toll
Violence was reported elsewhere in Gaza that day, too. Witnesses in Tuffah, northeast of Gaza City, said Israeli military vehicles and quadcopter drones fired heavily toward Palestinian homes, while explosive devices fell on al-Sikka Street in the surrounding area. Sources said the Israeli army also carried out a large-scale demolition operation, blowing up homes east of Gaza City, where its forces are deployed.
In central Gaza, Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers moved beyond areas under army control east of Deir al-Balah, witnesses said. Gunfire struck residents' homes along Salah al-Din Street, setting off panic. No injuries or deaths were reported there. Artillery fire also hit areas northeast of the Bureij refugee camp, and an Israeli drone dropped an explosive device on a tent. No one was reported injured there either.
The cumulative numbers are stark. Gaza's Health Ministry says Israeli violations of the October 2025 ceasefire, now just over a year old, have killed at least 1,498 Palestinians and injured 5,306 others. Since October 2023, the war has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and injured 175,000 in Gaza, according to the Daily Sabah report, which also said around 90% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. The war is now in its fourth year.
The Israeli Security Case
Israel presents its operations differently. The IDF and Shin Bet carry out an average of two to three targeted operations daily against Hamas operatives and commanders in the Gaza Strip. According to the report, some people targeted took part in the October 7 attacks, while others are organizing terrorist attacks or trying to cross the Yellow Line.
Military officials told Walla that Gaza is currently closer to escalation than to reconstruction and a negotiated arrangement. They cited attempts by Hamas's military wing to rebuild its capabilities and strengthen its forces, ongoing training exercises, efforts to provoke confrontations with IDF troops along the Yellow Line, and intelligence warnings of planned attacks. Their concerns include attacks in the period leading up to Israel's elections, aimed at influencing the results.
Those are serious claims, and Israelis who lived through October 7 have reason to take them seriously. The same officials, though, laid out a condition that shapes everything else: according to assessments in Jerusalem, Israel will oppose any reconstruction measures unless Hamas is disarmed in practice and Gaza is demilitarized, including the removal of terrorist infrastructure, weapons and terrorists.
The Road to Peace
Put the two accounts side by side, and the trap becomes visible. Israel says it won't allow rebuilding until Hamas is disarmed. By Israeli military accounts, Hamas is working to rebuild its forces. Meanwhile, people living in the rubble of a territory where roughly nine-tenths of the infrastructure is damaged or destroyed wait for reconstruction, which the stalemate keeps postponing.
The ceasefire still exists on paper. On the ground, a woman is dead in Rimal, a girl is wounded, and neighbors sort through a burned and shattered building.
Why This Matters:
The ceasefire's toll—at least 1,498 Palestinians killed since October 2025, according to Gaza's Health Ministry—shows how a truce can exist in name while civilians keep dying. Israeli officials say they're targeting militants, and they cite credible concerns about Hamas rearming. But reconstruction depends on disarmament, while officials themselves say Gaza is closer to escalation than rebuilding. Families like Reem Awad's have the least power over either outcome, yet carry the heaviest cost. Without a political track that addresses both Israeli security and Palestinian survival, strikes, demolitions and stalled recovery are likely to repeat, making a negotiated settlement harder to reach with each round.