Israeli military officials say the Gaza Strip is closer to escalation than reconstruction, and the reason is plain: Hamas's military wing is trying to rebuild. Officials who spoke to Walla pointed to efforts to restore capabilities and strengthen forces, ongoing training exercises, attempts to provoke confrontations with IDF troops along the Yellow Line, and intelligence warnings of planned terrorist attacks.
Those warnings carry a political edge. Officials flagged concerns that Hamas will try to carry out attacks in the period leading up to Israel's elections, aiming to influence the results.
The Security Picture
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) carry out an average of two to three targeted operations daily against Hamas operatives and commanders in the Gaza Strip. Some targets took part in the October 7 attacks. Others, officials said, are organizing terrorist attacks or trying to cross the Yellow Line.
That’s the backdrop to Wednesday’s strikes. An Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood early Wednesday, killing a Palestinian woman and injuring two others, including a girl, according to sources. A medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital told Türkiye's Anadolu Agency that staff brought in the body of Reem Asaad Awad, 33, and two injured people. The source said the strike caused extensive destruction to the targeted apartment and neighboring buildings. A large fire broke out; civil defense crews later extinguished it. The base reporting doesn't identify the military target, or describe any warnings issued beforehand.
Elsewhere, witnesses said Israeli military vehicles and quadcopter drones opened heavy fire toward homes in the Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City, while explosive devices were dropped on al-Sikka Street. Sources said the army blew up homes in a large-scale demolition operation in areas where its forces are deployed east of Gaza City.
In central Gaza, witnesses said military vehicles and bulldozers moved beyond areas under army control east of Deir al-Balah. Gunfire struck homes along Salah al-Din Street, causing panic among residents, though no injuries or deaths were reported. Artillery hit areas northeast of the Bureij refugee camp, and a drone dropped an explosive device on a tent. No one was reported injured there.
The Casualty Figures
Gaza's Health Ministry says violations of the October 2025 ceasefire, which took hold just over one year ago, have killed at least 1,498 Palestinians and injured 5,306. The same reporting, citing Daily Sabah, says that since October 2023, the Israeli campaign has killed over 74,000 Palestinians and injured 175,000, with around 90% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed. The war is now in its fourth year. These figures come from the Hamas-run territory's health authorities and the Turkish-aligned outlets relaying them; the base reporting offers no independent verification or breakdown between combatants and civilians. The Daily Sabah report also uses the word "genocide," a characterization Israel rejects.
The Reconstruction Condition
Israel's position on rebuilding is clear. According to assessments in Jerusalem, security officials say Israel will oppose any reconstruction measures unless Hamas is disarmed in practice and the Gaza Strip is demilitarized. That means removing terrorist infrastructure, weapons, and terrorists.
The logic is hard to miss. Roughly 90% of Gaza's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, making the need for rebuilding enormous. Israeli officials, though, see a group retraining and rearming while the ceasefire holds on paper, and they're unwilling to let reconstruction materials flow into territory where that process continues.
Why This Matters: The ceasefire is just over a year old, and by Israeli accounts it's fraying from inside. If Hamas's military wing is rebuilding while the Yellow Line remains a flashpoint, the choice facing Israel isn't between war and peace but between pre-emptive action and absorbing the next attack. Reconstruction, what Gaza's civilians most need, is tied by Jerusalem to a disarmament Hamas has shown no sign of accepting. That deadlock leaves civilians amid demolished neighborhoods and recurring strikes, while Hamas's stated aims keep any negotiated arrangement out of reach. Warnings about attacks timed to Israel's elections add another variable: a militant group trying to shape a democracy's vote through violence.