DaysofPal – Israeli occupation forces continue to violate the fragile ceasefire agreement amid an increasingly complex reality in which the ongoing effects of Israel’s campaign in Gaza intersect with severe natural conditions, further weakening infrastructure and exhausting civilians’ ability to endure.
Eastern areas of Gaza City came under Israeli artillery shelling, accompanied by the sound of explosions amid rising security tensions. Israeli forces also detonated a booby-trapped armored vehicle inside a residential area in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood. In addition, the army demolished several residential homes in eastern Gaza, with explosions heard across the city.
In southern Gaza, the city of Rafah was subjected to Israeli bombardment amid heavy overflights by warplanes and a continued state of high alert. Israeli aircraft also carried out a series of intense airstrikes targeting eastern areas of Khan Younis as part of an ongoing military escalation affecting multiple parts of the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday evening, the Israeli army and the General Security Service (Shin Bet) announced the assassination of Raed Saad, a senior commander in Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.
According to the announcement, Saad was killed in an airstrike that targeted a vehicle on al-Rashid Street west of Gaza City. The operation represents a new escalation in Tel Aviv’s violations of the ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas on 10 October 2025.
Israeli sources reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz personally approved the operation, without prior notification to Washington.
In a joint statement following the strike, Netanyahu and Katz said they had ordered the assassination “in response to Hamas detonating an explosive device against our forces today in areas of the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip.” They added that “anyone who raises a hand against Israel and harms soldiers will have that hand cut off in Gaza or anywhere else.”
Israel had previously attempted to assassinate Saad several times during its war on Gaza since 7 October 2023, including two attempts in the past two weeks that were reportedly canceled at the last moment.
Hamas, for its part, has not formally confirmed that Raed Saad was killed. However, in a statement released by the movement, Hamas said that “the continued crimes of the occupation army in the Gaza Strip, the latest of which was the targeting of a civilian car west of Gaza City this evening, constitute a further deepening of the criminal violation of the ceasefire agreement signed under the plan of U.S. President Trump.”
The statement added that the attack “once again confirms that the occupation is deliberately seeking to undermine and sabotage the ceasefire agreement through the escalation of its continuous violations.”
Hamas held the Israeli government “fully responsible for the consequences of its crimes against our Palestinian people and its systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement, including targeting our people, activists, and leadership, the continued imposition of the siege, and the obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts.”
The movement also called on mediators and the countries guaranteeing the agreement to “assume their responsibilities regarding these blatant violations and to take urgent action to restrain the occupation government, which is reneging on its obligations under the agreement and seeking to dismantle and destroy it,” according to the statement.
Alongside the military escalation, Gaza has faced a deep weather depression in recent days, exposing the extent of deterioration in its urban and service infrastructure as a result of Israel’s ongoing campaign.
Ismail al-Thawabteh, Director General of the Government Media Office in Gaza, warned of a “compound humanitarian catastrophe” after buildings previously damaged by bombardment collapsed due to heavy rain and strong winds. The collapses resulted in the deaths of 11 Palestinians, whose bodies were recovered, while search efforts continue for at least one missing person.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in harsh conditions unfit for human life, amid the absence of safe shelter, crumbling infrastructure, increasing risks of further collapses, and the declining capacity of local institutions to respond.
In the health sector, data from the Ministry of Health indicate that since the ceasefire came into effect, the death toll has risen to 386, with 1,018 people injured. The ministry added that the overall toll since 7 October 2023 has reached 70,654 killed and 171,095 wounded.
The World Health Organization’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Rick Peeperkorn, disclosed that between July 2024 and November 28, 2025, about 1,092 patients in Gaza passed away while awaiting medical evacuation. The figure highlights the healthcare system’s breakdown and its failure to promptly save patients.
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