Israeli Attacks Across Gaza Kill Four Palestinians, Including Son of Health Chief

At least four Palestinians, including a child and the eldest son of Gaza’s health ministry director-general, have been killed in a wave of Israeli military attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to medical sources and local reports. Three people were killed in strikes on Saturday, while a fourth person succumbed to injuries sustained in a separate attack on Friday.

The latest casualties add to a mounting death toll in the besieged enclave. According to figures cited by Al Jazeera, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,390 people in Gaza since a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was announced in October 2025. Overall casualties since October 2023 exceed 73,910 dead and 174,914 wounded.

Among those killed on Saturday was Basir al-Bursh, the eldest son of Gaza's Ministry of Health Director-General, Dr. Munir al-Bursh. Medical sources and reporting from Al Jazeera indicate that Basir al-Bursh was killed by an Israeli drone strike in the az-Zahra neighbourhood west of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The strike occurred while students were attending classes at alternative learning spaces set up by local organizations behind a local field hospital.

Video footage obtained by Al Jazeera showed Dr. Munir al-Bursh carrying his son’s body, wrapped in a blanket, as it was rushed to a hospital by ambulance. Speaking about the incident, Dr. al-Bursh recounted that his son had stepped out of a tent before being directly struck by a drone missile. Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud reported that another person was seriously wounded in the same Jabalia strike. As of Saturday, Israeli authorities had not issued a statement explaining the targeted strike.

In a separate incident on Saturday, an Israeli drone struck a civilian vehicle in the Sheikh Radwan market area of Gaza City, killing one person and wounding at least four others, including two children, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. The vehicle caught fire and burned for an extended period because rescue crews faced delays reaching the scene, leaving one body burned beyond recognition and arriving at al-Shifa Medical Complex charred completely. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli reconnaissance aircraft, attack drones, and quadcopters had been hovering at low levels across the territory throughout the day.

Additional casualties were reported elsewhere in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. A source within ambulance and emergency services stated that one person was killed when Israeli forces struck the Shujayea neighbourhood, located east of Gaza City. In central Gaza, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital announced that a Palestinian girl succumbed to injuries she sustained a day earlier from Israeli gunfire north of the Nuseirat refugee camp. The same hospital reported that a woman and another individual were wounded by Israeli gunfire east of the Maghazi refugee camp.

Amid the intensified military activity, political developments unfolded concurrently. Hamas announced on Saturday that its political chief, Khalil al-Hayya, held telephone calls with regional mediators to discuss the escalation of Israeli strikes in Gaza and rising violence in the occupied West Bank. This diplomatic contact follows a joint statement issued last month by key regional mediators—Qatar, Egypt, and Turkiye—condemning ongoing Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip.

Humanitarian organizations continue to highlight the dire conditions facing civilians in the enclave. UNICEF reported last month that an average of one child is killed each day in Gaza by Israeli operations, with displaced Palestinian families currently confined to approximately one-third of the territory while sheltering among rubble, destroyed buildings, and uncleared waste.