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Gaza’s Civil Defence Authority reported that Israeli aircraft conducted the strikes on residential buildings across three locations in the enclave, with Palestinian health officials detailing the deaths of two people including a child in Gaza City, one near Jabalia, a family of three in Khan Younis and two more in Deir el-Balah. An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson stated that the operation targeted military operatives and confirmed the killing of two Hamas commanders, one from the elite Nukhba force and another from the Maghazi Battalion. The strikes marked the second consecutive night of such actions, according to Palestinian officials, even as the territory remains under partial Israeli control following a ceasefire that took effect in October 2025.
Hamas accepted the disarmament document last week, Al Jazeera reported, with the group agreeing to hand over weapons to a Palestinian National Committee of independent technocrats as part of the second phase of a US-brokered ceasefire plan. The 15-point roadmap published on Friday outlines initial steps for inventorying and storing heavy weapons, military production sites, weapons depots and tunnels, a process the document states is conditional on Israel fulfilling its own commitments under the initial agreement. A senior Hamas official told the BBC that the faction had consented to the Board of Peace plan, though implementation details for the handover remain unclear and the committee continues to operate from Cairo without entering Gaza.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday that no deal had been reached to halt attacks on the Gaza Strip, which he noted stands under 70 percent Israeli control, and that full Israeli administration would be necessary if Hamas failed to disarm, according to a Reuters dispatch. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir dismissed the draft agreement as “not acceptable,” a position that reflects broader Israeli skepticism about Hamas relinquishing its weapons or governance role. President Donald Trump described Israel as “very happy” with the proposed deal in remarks on Friday and called it “a big step for the Middle East,” while an Axios report on his Thursday announcement framed the accord as enabling a transfer of civilian and security control to a new Palestinian technocratic government.
UNRWA data placed the Palestinian death toll since the October 2025 ceasefire at 1,084 by early July 2026, with the latest strikes adding to that figure amid ongoing enforcement of the partial truce. The UN agency also documented more than 3,400 injuries in the same period, while separate OCHA updates have tracked continued albeit reduced violence including settler-related incidents in the West Bank that have exceeded prior annual totals. According to a Council on Foreign Relations overview of the 20-point plan unveiled in September 2025, the framework encompasses Israeli troop withdrawal, Gaza reconstruction and the creation of the Board of Peace to supervise disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups.
NBC News reported that Hamas has conditioned its disarmament on Israel halting all strikes and fully withdrawing from the territory, highlighting persistent obstacles to full implementation of the phased agreement. The NBC dispatch noted that progress had stalled earlier over mutual accusations of violations, with Israel maintaining that Hamas must disarm before any further concessions. Trump administration officials have separately indicated that independent international monitors could oversee a decommissioning process that includes a weapons buy-back and reintegration program, though specifics on that mechanism were still under development as of late January 2026.
Satellite imagery analyzed by BBC Verify last November showed Israel had destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in areas under its control since the ceasefire, a tally that has likely grown substantially given limited coverage of certain zones. The United Nations has estimated that the broader conflict since October 2023 has generated around 60 million tonnes of debris across Gaza, complicating any reconstruction efforts tied to the current roadmap. Hamas has governed the coastal territory since 2007, a span during which it has been designated a terrorist organization by the UK government and several other countries.
