Photo: Wikimedia Commons (see file page for photographer), via Wikimedia Commons.
Israeli strikes killed at least five people in Gaza on Wednesday and two more on Thursday, according to Palestinian medical and local sources cited in the Rest of the World Report's October 29 morning edition, which draws on Al Jazeera, France 24, RTÉ and Arab News. The deaths came more than a year after a ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
According to that report, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a checkpoint run by the Hamas-run Crossings and Borders Authority in Mawasi, in southern Gaza. The victims worked for agriculture, economy and general petroleum and gas authorities. Medical sources first reported three dead; one more later died of wounds, bringing that strike's toll to four, with more than 30 wounded. Another person was killed in a strike on Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it struck "terrorists in the area."
On Thursday, ambulance and emergency services said an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in Maghazi camp killed two people. Gaza's health authorities say 1,568 people have been killed and 5,649 wounded since the ceasefire took effect, with a cumulative toll since October 7, 2023, of 74,564 killed and 175,770 wounded.
In the West Bank, the picture is one of lockdown rather than open battle. Israeli forces raided Hebron neighbourhoods and surrounding towns on Wednesday as the city's lockdown entered a sixth day, according to the same report. The lockdown began after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint last week. Al Jazeera has separately reported that about 2,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Hebron, a figure confirmed by Israel's defence minister, and that residents can neither enter nor leave the city.
UNRWA's director for the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, said the lockdown has severely restricted residents' movement and access to services. Palestinian officials have accused Benjamin Netanyahu's government of using the operation to win settler votes before the election.
What happens next depends on whether mediators can turn a ceasefire that is holding on paper into one that holds on the ground. For families in Gaza and Hebron, the immediate questions are more basic: safe movement, access to services, and an end to strikes and raids that continue despite the agreement.