Israel Warns of More Gaza Strikes
PHOTO CAPTION: Debris flies through the air, during an Israeli strike, carried out after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate the area, Al-Zawayda, in the central Gaza Strip, August 23, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
CAIRO, Aug. 23 — Two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed at least two people, including a 4-year-old boy, and wounded seven others, Palestinian health officials said, as Israel warned it would intensify attacks if launches of drones, balloons and kites from Gaza did not stop.
One strike hit a building in Zawayda in central Gaza after the Israeli military warned the property’s owners to leave the area, residents said. Medics said debris and shrapnel traveled dozens of meters from the blast and wounded at least six people, including 4-year-old Mohammad Abdel-Salam Taha, who later died at a hospital.
“There is no ceasefire, there is nothing,” said Abu Ahmed, a displaced Palestinian sheltering near the building, which was reduced to mangled steel and concrete. “We want solutions, we want to live in peace.”
Palestinian health officials said a second Israeli airstrike took place in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp. The Israeli military said it was looking into both strikes.
Israel warns of intensified strikes
A U.S.-backed ceasefire that took effect in October 2025 halted major fighting in Gaza but did not end Israeli military strikes, which Israel says are aimed at preventing attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
The Israeli military said late Saturday that it had killed senior Hamas militant Sharif Al-Hasnat in Deir Al-Balah. It said Hasnat was leading efforts to rebuild Hamas’ “underground infrastructure.”
Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan backed by President Donald Trump that calls for Israeli withdrawals and Hamas disarmament.
More than 1,280 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect last October, according to Gaza health officials. The Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed during the same period.
Israel has also reported drones, balloons and kites being launched from Gaza toward Israeli territory. Following a security assessment Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had warned Hamas that strikes would intensify and civilians could be ordered to evacuate areas if those launches did not stop immediately.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim dismissed the warning, writing on X that children were flying kites “in search of their innocent childhood amid the rubble.”
Violence also reported in West Bank
Separately, an Israeli man was stabbed and wounded in the occupied West Bank by a suspect believed to be Palestinian, according to Israeli police and the military.
Security-camera footage released by the military showed a man waiting near a vehicle beside a highway near Jericho before stabbing the Israeli man when he approached his parked car. The suspect fled on foot, and Israeli soldiers were searching for him.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces shot and killed 14-year-old Islam Ajjouri during a raid on the Askar refugee camp near Nablus. The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident.
The West Bank is home to about 3 million Palestinians and roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers. United Nations bodies and most countries consider Israeli settlements there illegal under international law governing military occupation, a position Israel disputes while citing biblical and historical ties to the territory.
(Source: Reuters)
