Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least eight people, including an eight-year-old girl, on the first anniversary of the US-backed ceasefire, according to medical sources. Shahd Abdul-Razzaq al-Najjar, 8, was killed on Saturday by an Israeli quadcopter drone in the al-Jawazat area of western Gaza City, a source in ambulance and emergency services told local media. Four people were killed and several injured in a separate bombing near the Haider Abdel Shafi roundabout, according to al-Shifa Hospital, while one more person died in a drone attack in the Tuffah neighbourhood.

A year of the truce, a year of killings

In the southern city of Khan Younis, a woman succumbed to injuries sustained in an earlier Israeli attack. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 1,481 Palestinians had been killed and 5,254 injured since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10 last year. It added that at least 74,370 people had been killed and 175,371 injured since October 7, 2023. In the past 24 hours alone, it said, Israeli attacks killed at least nine people and injured 65.

Ceasefire ‘exists in name only’

On Friday, more than 100 humanitarian, human rights and civil society organisations said in a joint statement that the ceasefire in Gaza exists in name only, with Israeli forces continuing to kill and injure Palestinians daily, and restrictions on aid, equipment and rebuilding materials preventing families from recovering.

Under the agreement, Israel was obligated to withdraw its forces to around half of Gaza, halt aerial and artillery attacks, release Palestinian prisoners and allow humanitarian aid into the territory. Hamas was required to release all Israeli captives. Medical sources and rights groups say Israeli attacks and restrictions on aid have continued throughout the year despite the deal.

Reports from Gaza said mourners gathered outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for funeral prayers for those killed in the strikes. In the occupied West Bank, at least 12 settler attacks were recorded on Saturday morning, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, adding to a tense anniversary across the Palestinian territories.