30 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza after ceasefire announcement

GAZA - At least 30 Palestinians were killed and many others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, hours after Qatar announced a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, which takes effect on Sunday.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, said Israeli warplanes had intensified raids across multiple areas of Gaza. One strike, near the Engineers' Syndicate in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of western Gaza City, killed 18 people and injured 20 others.

He added that seven Palestinians were killed in a strike on a house in northern Gaza, and another one targeting a home in the Al-Daraj area in eastern Gaza City resulted in three more deaths.

In addition, local sources at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, reported two fatalities in an attack on a house in the Qizan Rashwan area south of the city.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the recent attacks.

The airstrikes followed an announcement by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Wednesday evening that Hamas and Israel had reached a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, along with a deal for hostage release. This agreement marks a breakthrough after about 15 months of devastating conflict.

Since Oct 7, 2023, Israel has waged a large-scale war against Hamas in Gaza, resulting in over 46,000 Palestinian deaths to date. The conflict began after a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and the taking of about 250 hostages.