Israel's deadly Gaza strikes cast doubt on ceasefire progress days after Kushner visit

Heavy airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday raised questions about the progress of recent US efforts to advance a fragile ceasefire in the territory. Just two days after US negotiators reportedly urged Israel to reduce attacks in Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two strikes, according to local hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Israeli forces also crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and apprehended a Hamas police colonel at dawn, witnesses and a Hamas official reported. One strike targeted a Hamas commander who participated in the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Another strike in Gaza City hit four Hamas militants at a police station, claiming they intended to launch attacks against Israeli troops.

The day before, a strike aimed at four Hamas commanders and militants resulted in the deaths of eight police officers and a 13-year-old girl in Gaza City. On Tuesday evening, an Israeli strike on a crowded seaside cafe claimed the lives of seven Palestinians, including a child. Earlier this week, Jared Kushner, a US negotiator and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, engaged in a prolonged meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which he requested Israel to scale down its attacks on Gaza.

On Wednesday, Israel’s military announced it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct during the conflict and would investigate the murders of a 5-year-old girl and her family in 2024, as well as the deaths of 15 Palestinian paramedics in 2025. Despite the recent strikes, the ceasefire established in October has significantly reduced fighting in Gaza, where over 2 million Palestinians reside.

Since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes have claimed at least 1,273 lives, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The three-year-long Israel-Hamas war has resulted in over 73,400 Palestinian deaths, with women and children accounting for roughly half of the casualties. On Wednesday, Israeli troops entered the Muwasi coastal area, west of Khan Younis, detaining two residents and colonel Muhammad Hamdi Ahmad Al-Masri, a Hamas-led Blue Police official.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem criticized the Board of Peace, the body Trump established to oversee the ceasefire, accusing it of providing a cover for Israel to escalate its attacks in Gaza instead of pressuring it to abide by the agreement.