Israeli strikes kill five in Gaza, including charity workers

A strike on a community kitchen in Deir el-Balah killed three charity workers and pushed the day’s toll in Gaza to at least five Palestinians, as attacks on aid sites once again put civilian infrastructure at the center of the war.

Al Jazeera reported that the attack in the central Gaza city targeted a community kitchen. Hamas condemned the strike as a deliberate war crime and said it came amid international silence and inaction. The identities of the five dead were not fully detailed in the available reporting, but the account of three charity workers among the dead sharpened the focus on the risks facing aid groups trying to feed displaced families.

The killings were part of a broader pattern across Gaza that also included reported strikes in Khan Younis and Gaza City. In those areas, medics said Israeli fire killed one person and wounded several more, underscoring how violence has continued even as ceasefire arrangements have been in place on paper. The latest deaths added to a toll that Gaza’s Health Ministry said had reached 72,760 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, including at least 871 killed since the ceasefire that began in October 2025.

The destruction around aid work has become one of the defining features of the conflict. Al Jazeera reported that Israel occupies about 60 percent of Gaza’s territory, behind a so-called yellow line buffer zone, a geography that has complicated movement for civilians and humanitarian workers alike. In that setting, strikes near kitchens, clinics and other civilian sites carry consequences beyond the immediate casualties, disrupting food distribution, medical access and the credibility of any claim that such areas are being spared.

The wider record suggests the truce has been fragile at best. ACLED said Israel carried out 35 percent more attacks in Gaza in April than in March, while Gaza’s Health Ministry said 120 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks after the April 8, 2026 pause in U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran. In April, Volker Türk, the U.N. human rights chief, said at least 32 Palestinians had been killed since early that month, bringing the total to 738 killed since the October 10, 2025 ceasefire took effect. The new deaths in Deir el-Balah now feed that same accounting, where every strike near a kitchen, hospital or shelter is also a battle over scrutiny, access and who gets believed.