Palestinian officials said on Tuesday (September 3) that Israeli forces have been fighting Hamas militants in various parts of Gaza over the past 24 hours but have agreed to a temporary one-day ceasefire, allowing medical personnel to administer polio vaccines for children for the third time.
The Israeli military said they killed eight Palestinian gunmen, including a senior Hamas commander, at a command center near Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The commander, identified as Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia, was involved in a sudden attack on Israel last October 7, as shown in a widely circulated video where he was seen killing the father of two children with a grenade before drinking in front of the injured children.
Israel claimed that the commander was responsible for Hamas terrorists’ “massacre of civilians” at the Netiv HaAsara Israeli community near the Gaza border. Hamas has not responded to these allegations.
Hamas and the armed wing of Islamic Jihad said they were fighting Israeli forces in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City as well as in the southern areas of Rafah and Khan Younis.
On Sunday (September 1), hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to mourn the discovery of six hostages found murdered in southern Gaza. The hostages were apparently shot dead by militants when the Israeli army approached their hiding place. The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated early Monday (September 2) that forensic tests showed the hostages were shot at close range, and the time of death was within 48 to 72 hours before the autopsies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israeli troops would continue to be stationed at the Philadelphi Corridor on the southern edge of Gaza. This has been a major sticking point in reaching agreements to end the fighting and return hostages. Israel alleges that Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza through tunnels under this corridor, a claim denied by Egypt and Hamas.
Hamas demands the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from all areas of Gaza to achieve a peace agreement. Netanyahu, however, insists that only by eliminating Hamas can the war come to an end, citing concerns that Hamas may rearm and pose a long-term security threat to Israel.
Despite the ongoing conflict, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that on Tuesday, the third day of a large-scale children’s vaccination campaign, the polio vaccine target in central Gaza had been surpassed, with approximately a quarter of children under 10 receiving the vaccine.
Last month, the vaccination campaign accelerated after the first case of polio was discovered in a Gaza infant. Both Israel and Hamas militants agreed to an eight-hour daily ceasefire in specific areas of the besieged enclave.
WHO representative for the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, told Reuters in Geneva that over 161,000 children under 10 in central Gaza had been vaccinated in the first two days of the campaign, surpassing the expected number of 150,000.
He stated, “So far, everything is going smoothly, and the temporary truce between the warring parties for humanitarian purposes is effective. We still have 10 days left.” Negotiations are ongoing to reach out to children in parts of southern Gaza believed to be outside the agreed ceasefire zone.
Palestinians attribute the resurgence of polio to the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system and the destruction of most hospitals. Israel, on the other hand, accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes, a claim denied by Hamas.
The Gaza conflict began on October 7 last year with Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel. According to Israeli statistics, Hamas killed 1200 people and abducted over 250 hostages.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry controlled by Hamas, over 40,800 Palestinians have died since then.