Israeli strikes killed Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, October 25, 2026, including three people at Gaza City's Islamic University, despite a truce that has been in place for more than a year. According to TrendsMENA, two strikes hit the university campus, killing three security guards and injuring at least seven people, and the university suspended in-person classes for the rest of the week.
According to ABNA, the three university staff killed were Sami Baward, Ashraf Dahlan and Shadi Abu Ataya. Al Shifa hospital reported receiving three bodies and treating eight people wounded in the drone strike, with two sources at the university saying the dead were employees and the injured were students, according to Storysh. The Israeli army said the strike was under review, and a separate report citing the Times of Israel said the military had targeted a Hamas operative and diverted the strike after identifying uninvolved bystanders, though it was unclear whether the intended target was among those killed.
Deaths were also reported across the north, centre and south of the territory. According to TrendsMENA, four people were killed in northern Gaza, one in Deir al-Balah and three in Khan Younis. ABNA reported that an eight-year-old girl, Fatima Al-Bayouk, died from injuries sustained from Israeli gunfire, and that Gaza's education ministry said Israeli attacks had killed 10 students and one teacher between October 18 and 24.
The strikes coincided with a tightening Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank. According to WRP, Israeli forces displaced 2,670 people in Hebron amid raids across the city and surrounding towns, road closures and an operation that followed an attack on an Israeli military position on October 23. According to GeoBit's weekly assessment, Israel also announced the closure of all West Bank land crossings effective October 27, ahead of Israel's election this week.
Gaza's education ministry condemned the university strike, saying the global silence over attacks on students and universities serves as encouragement, according to ABNA. Gaza's health ministry puts the toll since October 2023 at 74,544 killed and at least 175,692 wounded, figures that have not been independently verified, according to TrendsMENA. What happens next depends on whether mediators and guarantors of the truce act on what the Popular Resistance Committees called Israeli violations, and on what Israel confirms about the strike.
Image credit: Main conference hall at the Islamic University of Gaza, via Wikimedia Commons (free licence).