Air strikes in Gaza crush joy of ceasefire deal

After news of a ceasefire agreement sparked mass rejoicing in Gaza, residents woke up Thursday to columns of smoke, rubble and more deaths following new Israeli air strikes.

“We were waiting for the truce and were happy. It was the happiest night since October 7,” said Gaza resident Saeed Alloush, referring to the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in 2023.

“Suddenly… we received the news of the martyrdom of 40 people,” including his uncle, Alloush said.

“The whole area’s joy turned to sadness, as if an earthquake struck.”

The latest strikes came after Qatar and the United States announced a fragile ceasefire deal that should take effect on Sunday.

AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence agency, told AFP on Thursday that at least 73 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes since the announcement on Wednesday.

Among them were 20 children and 25 women, he said, with around 200 others wounded.

As day broke, crowds gathered to inspect and clear the remains of a building reduced to rubble, where chunks of concrete lay interspersed with rebar and personal items scattered across the site.

The scenes mirrored those in other parts of the densely populated territory of 2.4 million people, most of whom have been displaced at least once since war broke out in October 2023.

At Nasser Hospital, the main medical facility of the southern city of Khan Yunis, AFP journalists saw stained metal mortuary stretchers stained in red as staff drained them of the blood of the dead in a strike.