Gaza Truce Death Toll Passes 1,400 as West Bank Village Attack Kills Palestinian Man

A Palestinian man was killed and several others wounded in an Israeli drone strike on southern Gaza on Thursday, while in the occupied West Bank a separate shooting by Israeli settlers left another Palestinian dead, according to medical and official sources.

The Gaza strike hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area, a coastal strip west of Khan Younis that Israel had previously designated a humanitarian zone. The body of Tamer al-Hamayda, 42, along with three injured people, was taken to Nasser Medical Complex, the facility reported. The attack underscored the fragility of the ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, which has not halted bloodshed in the enclave.

Medical staff at Nasser also confirmed that another Palestinian died from wounds suffered in an earlier drone strike on Tuesday, which had targeted a gathering of Palestinians in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The cumulative effect of such incidents is a steady rise in fatalities despite the nominal halt to full-scale combat operations.

In a separate operation, Israeli forces conducted a large-scale demolition of buildings east of Gaza City's al-Tuffah neighbourhood, further reducing an area already devastated by more than two years of war. The destruction of residential blocks has been a recurring feature of Israel's military campaign, leaving thousands of families without homes and complicating any future reconstruction effort.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported eight new deaths and 26 wounded over the previous 24-hour period. Since the ceasefire began in October 2025, the ministry says 1,439 Palestinians have been killed and 5,052 wounded, with 834 bodies recovered from the rubble of destroyed buildings. The gap between the dead and the recovered illustrates the difficulty of retrieving remains from areas where rescue teams lack heavy equipment and safe access.

The broader toll of the war remains staggering. According to the ministry, at least 74,040 Palestinians have been killed and 175,168 wounded since October 2023. These figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, though the ministry has consistently stated that the majority of the dead are women and children. International humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that the true number is likely higher, given the number of people still missing beneath the debris.

The continued killings in Gaza highlight a central dilemma of the ceasefire: while large-scale ground manoeuvres and aerial bombardments have subsided, targeted strikes, demolition operations and localized violence continue to claim lives. Critics argue that the truce framework lacks enforcement mechanisms, allowing Israel to conduct operations it describes as counterterrorism while Palestinians say they amount to a continuation of the war by other means.

In the occupied West Bank, violence flared in the village of Yasuf, north of Ramallah, where Israeli settlers shot dead a 51-year-old Palestinian man, Mashhour Yassin, and wounded another man. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death. Village mayor Jumaa Abdel Fattah told the AFP news agency that dozens of settlers armed with sticks and firearms had stormed the community, which sits between four Israeli settlements. Yassin was on his doorstep when the settlers attacked homes, Abdel Fattah said, and he went out to defend his house. His nephew was also wounded.

Abdel Fattah identified the attackers as coming from Havat Anton, an illegal Israeli settlement outpost established in July that has previously targeted Yasuf residents. The pattern is familiar across the West Bank, where unauthorized outposts often serve as bases for repeated raids on nearby Palestinian villages, with residents saying they receive little protection from Israeli authorities.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the killing and described the Israeli military's conduct during the incident as evidence of coordination with the settlers. The ministry said Israeli forces had detained an ambulance, seized its key and thrown it aside, calling this "a crime that reflects clear coordination between the settlers and occupation forces." It added that the killing "falls within the framework of a serious and continuous escalation in organised settler crimes."

The ministry further accused Israel of giving free rein to settler "terrorism against our people in the service of settlement, annexation, forced displacement and ethnic cleansing plans." Such language reflects the broader Palestinian leadership's view that settler violence is not a matter of isolated extremism but a deliberate policy aimed at driving Palestinians off land earmarked for Israeli expansion.

Settler attacks across the occupied West Bank have surged in recent months, according to Palestinian residents and monitoring groups. More than 500,000 Israelis now live in West Bank settlements that are considered illegal under international law. The presence of these communities, often built on land confiscated from Palestinians, creates constant friction points that frequently erupt into violence.

According to the United Nations, at least 1,112 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October 2023, including at least 37 killed by settlers. The figures illustrate that while global attention has focused on Gaza, the West Bank has experienced its own escalating emergency, with Palestinian communities facing raids, shootings, land seizures and movement restrictions.

The two incidents on Thursday, though geographically separate, form part of a single deteriorating picture. In Gaza, a ceasefire that was meant to end the killing has instead produced a steady trickle of deaths from drone strikes and demolitions. In the West Bank, settlers operate with what Palestinians describe as impunity, backed by a military that critics say fails to hold them accountable. For ordinary Palestinians in both territories, the promise of safety remains distant, and the diplomatic efforts that produced the truce have yet to address the underlying dynamics of settlement expansion, occupation and displacement that continue to drive the violence.