GAZA CITY, 31 October 2026 — Two Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as Israeli forces continued strikes, shelling and gunfire across the territory, medical sources said, in the latest reported violations of a ceasefire that has now lasted more than a year.
One man was killed in an Israeli drone strike north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, while a second man died of wounds sustained in an earlier attack in Gaza City, according to medical sources cited by Anadolu news agency. The deaths came as artillery and gunfire were reported across northern, central and southern Gaza, from Beit Lahia and Gaza City in the north to Khan Younis in the south and Deir al-Balah in the centre.
Two killed on Saturday
A medical source at Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza said Diaa Abu al-Rous was killed on Saturday morning in a strike near the headquarters of an electricity company north of the Nuseirat camp. Eyewitnesses said an Israeli drone hit the area, local reports said.
Separately, Arafat al-Arair died from serious injuries sustained several days earlier when an Israeli strike hit a vehicle in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, southwest of Gaza City, a medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital said. His death brought the number of Palestinians reported killed in Gaza on Saturday to two, with further shelling reported through the day.
On Saturday morning, Israeli artillery shelled the Al-Alami area near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, local sources said, while warships shelled the Gaza City coastline. Heavy artillery also struck eastern Gaza City and areas north of the Bureij camp, and military vehicles opened fire northeast of Khan Younis.
Death toll since the ceasefire passes 1,500
Figures released by Gaza’s Health Ministry on Thursday put the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025 at 1,574, with 5,687 wounded, according to reports citing the ministry. A further 845 bodies have been recovered from rubble during the same period, the ministry said.
The ministry’s cumulative toll for the war since October 2023 stood at 74,570 killed and 175,808 wounded, local reports said. The United Nations has estimated that around 82 per cent of structures in Gaza have been damaged, with about two-thirds destroyed.
On Thursday, a separate strike hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, killing a 42-year-old man and wounding three other people, medics said. Israeli forces also carried out a large-scale demolition operation targeting buildings east of Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighbourhood, according to Al Jazeera.
West Bank killing and the Rafah appeal
In the occupied West Bank, settlers shot dead a Palestinian man near Ramallah on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry renewed its appeal for the Rafah crossing to reopen, saying 21,468 patients and wounded people need to travel abroad for treatment, including 6,430 priority cases. The crossing, Gaza’s main gateway for medical evacuations, has remained largely closed.
UN experts told a UN committee earlier this week that devastation in Gaza continues a year after the truce. With Saturday’s deaths, the truce’s first anniversary month has closed with its toll still rising — and with no sign, residents say, that the firing has stopped.
