Death toll rises to 45 as Israeli strikes pound Gaza despite ceasefire

Gaza’s civil defence agency and hospitals said a series of Israeli air strikes across the territory killed at least 45 people on Sunday, updating an earlier toll of 33.

The Israeli military said it had struck dozens of Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip, as both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the nine-day-old ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump.

“At least 45 people were killed as a result of Israeli air strikes on various areas of the Gaza Strip,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas authority, told AFP.

Four hospitals in Gaza confirmed the death toll to AFP, saying they had received the dead and wounded.

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Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat reported 24 dead and 73 wounded from multiple strikes in central Gaza.

Al-Aqsa Hospital said it received 12 dead from nearby bombings, while Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis reported five dead, and Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed four fatalities.

Earlier, Bassal detailed several of the strikes.

He said six people were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a “group of civilians” in Zuwaida town in central Gaza.

Six other people, including children, were killed and 13 others injured in two separate strikes near Nuseirat in central Gaza, Bassal said.

A woman and two children were killed when a drone strike hit a tent housing displaced people near Asdaa City, north of Khan Yunis.