Four Palestinians Killed in Gaza Air Strikes as Regional Tensions Overshadow Ceasefire
Israeli air strikes killed four Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, marking the latest in a series of incidents that have punctured what was supposed to be a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States [1]. The violence underscores how the attention of global powers has shifted away from Gaza toward the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.
Three of those killed were members of the local police force, struck when an Israeli aircraft targeted their vehicle in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, with ten others wounded in the attack [1]. A separate strike in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of northern Gaza killed a senior figure from an armed group affiliated with Fatah [1]. The Israeli military offered no immediate comment on either incident.
The timing is significant. As international attention focuses on what Palestinians describe as the "pyrotechnics" of the Iranian front, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to deepen largely out of the public eye [1]. At least 680 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire agreement took effect in October 2025, while Israel has reported four soldiers killed in the same period [1].
Since October 2023, more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, among them tens of thousands of women and children, with independent researchers believing the true toll is substantially higher [1].
Stalled Peace Process and Territorial Control
The second phase of the Trump administration's peace roadmap for Gaza has effectively ground to a halt [1]. Despite Hamas having handed over all remaining hostages—a stated precondition for advancing to the next phase—Israel has shown little willingness to progress in negotiations while the armed group retains its weapons [1]. Hamas, for its part, has refused anything resembling a surrender.
Israel now controls more than 60% of the Gaza Strip, leaving its 2.2 million residents crowded west of a so-called "yellow line" in conditions the United Nations has described as inhuman [1]. This territorial expansion has coincided with the forced displacement of over 30,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza's perimeters [1].
"With the war in the Gulf, the process came to a halt," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told Le Monde. "The US, the main driving force behind the agreement, is occupied elsewhere" [1].
Disarmament Demands and Colonial Control
According to reports, the so-called "Board of Peace" has issued a formal ultimatum to Hamas, demanding a six-month "pacification" window to strip the resistance of its deterrent capacity [1]. The proposal reportedly demands the immediate liquidation of all heavy weaponry and tunnels, followed by the systematic surrender of light arms [1].
Under this roadmap, a hand-picked "Palestinian police force" would be deployed into "cleared" zones, acting less as a civil service and more as an instrument of colonial administration tasked with suppressing internal dissent [1]. Meanwhile, a much-vaunted $10 billion "reconstruction" package remains largely undelivered, existing only as leverage to enforce compliance [1].
The mediators—Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey—have seen their diplomatic bandwidth consumed by the Israel-Iran conflict, effectively sidelining Gaza from international attention at a critical juncture [1].