Reports of fresh Gaza strikes – DW – 11/20/2025

Five people were killed in two Israeli strikes on Gaza’s southern town of Khan Younis on Thursday, local Hamas-run health officials said.

These were the deadliest attacks since a ceasefire came into effect in the Palestinian territories on October 10.

Reuters news agency quoted medics as saying that three people, including a girl, were killed in the attack on a house in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis. Two other people were killed in separate attacks in the nearby city of Abasan.

Reuters reported that 18 people were also injured in the Israeli attacks.

The Associated Press quoted hospital officials as saying that the total number of deaths in the last 12 hours due to the strike had reached 33.

The Israeli strikes came as Israel said on Wednesday that its troops had come under fire in Khan Yunis. No soldier was killed.

Hamas has denied firing on Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian militant group described the Israeli attacks as a “shocking massacre” and a dangerous escalation and urged mediators to intervene.

Human Rights Watch said Israel’s forced displacement of thousands of Palestinians from West Bank refugee camps earlier this year amounted to war crimes.

The rights group said about 32,000 residents of the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps were forcibly displaced by Israeli forces in January and February.

HRW said in the 105-page report titled “All my dreams were wiped out”Displaced people were prevented from returning and hundreds of houses were demolished.

“Ten months after displacement, none of the family members have been able to return to their homes,” HRW researcher Milena Ansari told Reuters news agency.

Israel’s military told Reuters that civilian infrastructure had been demolished so it could not be used by terrorists and did not say when residents could return.

The United Nations said in February that about 40,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced during the Israeli military’s Operation Iron Wall.

HRW said the senior officials responsible should be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Although the current ceasefire remains largely intact, the humanitarian situation for residents remains extremely challenging.

For many people in the Gaza Strip, the ceasefire means a chance to return home, or whatever is left of it.

The EU has called on the Palestinian Authority to accelerate reforms to secure European funding, however, as long as Hamas controls half the territory and refuses to disarm, the EU’s bid to help Gaza rebuild will face major obstacles.

Today the EU is hosting a Palestinian donor conference, attended by about 60 delegations, including some from Arab countries.

The bloc is also considering training 3,000 Palestinian police officers who could later be deployed to Gaza.

Read more in this DW article here.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has labeled recent violent attacks by Israeli extremists as “terrorism” but said they are being carried out by a “very small number”.

Huckabee was speaking to Elizabeth Vargas of American news network NewsNation.

On a question regarding attacks by right-wing settlers in the occupied West Bank, Huckabee said: “I think there has been an increase. Let’s be really clear, the majority of these actions are from Israeli attackers who are committing acts of terrorism, and let’s be clear that’s what it is.”

Huckabee claimed, “Israelis can also commit terrorism. But most of these people are not actual residents living there.”

“There may be some, but it is a very small number, mostly young, angry and dissatisfied. These are swindlers. Many of them do not even live in Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told Vargas, using the Biblical names for the occupied West Bank.

The Trump administration has expressed concern over the incidents of violence and how it could impact efforts to end the conflict in Gaza.

Gaza’s civil defense agency first reported new Israeli air strikes on Thursday, killing at least three people.

The Hamas-run agency said Israeli forces bombed a residential building in the Bani Suhaila area, east of Khan Yunis, at around 4:00 a.m. (0200 GMT).

The AFP news agency cited a source in Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry, who did not want to be identified, as saying there were no further airstrikes on the territory after 5 a.m. (0300 GMT).

The source said artillery firing continued in the Khan Yunis area.

The reported attacks come at a time when both Hamas and Israel are accusing each other of violating the ceasefire that has been in place since October 10.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops were operating in several villages near Nablus in the occupied West Bank to locate weapons and arrest militants.

The IDF said that during the arrest, forces were fired upon and a reservist was wounded.

On Wednesday, Israel reported that its troops had been fired upon in southern Gaza and said it responded by attacking Hamas militants.

It was later reported that at least 25 Palestinians were killed in one of the deadliest days since the fragile ceasefire was established.

On Thursday morning, local officials in Gaza said fresh Israeli airstrikes hit the enclave amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The Israeli military reported that troops had come under fire again, this time in Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

It comes after Wednesday’s attacks that killed at least 25 Palestinians.

We’ll also bring you comments from US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on the attacks by settlers in the West Bank, which he called “terrorism” and claimed that many of those responsible are not from the region.

Follow here for all the latest developments in the conflict in the Middle East.