Why did Israel bombard Gaza on Sunday, killing 45? This is a “ceasefire”? Day 11

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

(It is difficult to characterize the current situation in Gaza a “ceasefire,” when Israel has killed 97 Palestinians. If Americans Knew considers Sunday to be Day 744 of Israel’s war on Gaza)

Israel killed at least 45 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, in spite of the ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect on October 11, Israel has reportedly killed at least 97 Palestinians and injured 230 others, and violated the truce agreement 80 times – 21 of those violations and 45 deaths occurred on Sunday, October 19.

Additional statistics below. 

GAZA NEWS & HEADLINES:

(For some basic info on the Palestine-Israel conflict, go here. For more critical context, skim this, this, and this. To read about a remarkable but underreported, 20-month-long peaceful protest in Gaza against Israel, go here.) 

Israel unleashes airstrikes across Gaza Sunday, killing at least 45

The fleeting ceasefire, already fractured by the deaths of at least 38 Palestinians, was shattered on Sunday morning by a wave of “around 100” Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, after Israel claimed Hamas militants targeted its troops in southern Gaza. Strikes targeted south, north and central Gaza in what Israel said was a response to an attack on its soldiers by Hamas militants earlier in the day.

HAMAS STARTED IT?: According to multiple Hebrew media reports, the attacks were in response to an Israeli engineering vehicle being hit by an explosive device. Some reports said sniper fire also separately targeted Israeli forces. 

Two Israeli soldiers were killed – the military used the words “in combat” – and several were injured, some critically, in the incident.

Defense Minister Israel Katz was quoted as saying, “Hamas will pay a heavy price for any shooting and violation of the ceasefire, and if the message is not understood the intensity of the responses will increase.”

HAMAS DENIES: Hamas’s armed wing said it is adhering to the ceasefire agreement. “We have no knowledge of any incidents or clashes taking place in the Rafah area, as these are red zones under the [Israeli] occupation’s control, and contact with the remaining groups of ours there has been cut off since the war resumed in March of this year,” the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement, adding, “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas”.

ISRAEL “RETALIATES”: Israel’s attacks targeted civilian neighborhoods, homes, schools, and refugee camps, Palestinian media reported. Among the victims were eight children and a journalist.

Israeli Channel 12 also reported that the Israeli government had decided to suspend humanitarian aid and close all Gaza border crossings – a form of collective punishment and violation of international law – however, the decision was reportedly reversed following pressure from the Trump administration.

Following the deadly assault, Israel declared it would return to “reinforcing the ceasefire.”

ANOTHER NARRATIVE: Ryan Grim, respected cofounder of Drop Site News, explained how Israeli soldiers could come under attack, while Hamas fighters had no knowledge of an incident:

Soon after the explosion in Rafah, I’m told by a source familiar, the White House and Pentagon knew that the incident was caused by an Israeli settler bulldozer running over unexploded ordnance – contradicting Netanyahu’s claim that Hamas had popped up from tunnels.

After Netanyahu said he was blocking all aid from entering Gaza in response, and unleashed a bombing campaign, the administration conveyed to Israel that they knew what happened. Netanyahu then announced he would re-open the crossings in a few hours.

TRUMP’S VAGUE RESPONSE: President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, “We’re gonna have to see what’s happening. We wanna make sure that it’s gonna be very peaceful with Hamas, and as you know, they’ve been quite rambunctious, they’ve been doing some shooting,” he said.

However, Trump told reporters that it was possible the terrorist group’s leadership “isn’t involved in that,” suggesting that “some rebels within” launched the attacks on Israeli forces.

Trump’s comments, while ambiguous, appear to absolve Hamas of responsibility.

“The next 30 days are going to be critical,” a U.S. official said. “We are now in charge of what’s going on in Gaza when it comes to the implementation of the deal. We are going to be calling the shots.”

RELATED:

Gaza officials formally accuse Israel of organ theft, demand international probe

Israel Is Beginning To Choke On Its Own Lies

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Hey ChatGPT, can a truce be reinforced by attacks?

No, a truce is not reinforced by attacks. An attack, by definition, is a violation of a truce, which is an agreement to cease hostilities for a period of time. Attacks cause truces to be challenged, broken, or to collapse entirely. While a party may claim its attacks are “reinforcing” a truce, this is an act of enforcement after an alleged violation, not a reinforcement of the peace itself.

Reinforcing a truce involves shifting from a temporary agreement to a more stable, long-term peace by building trust, establishing monitoring mechanisms, and addressing the underlying causes of the conflict.

In international relations and conflict studies, the effectiveness and justification of attacking a ceasefire violator are highly debated. While such attacks may be intended to deter future violations, the strategy carries significant risks of escalating the conflict and undermining the ceasefire’s credibility.

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All supporters of Israel are genocidal maniacs. Each and everyone of them.

The sole survivor of the Abu Marshud family massacre, child Amir Hamadeh Abu Marshud, was killed today in an Israeli strike on Al-Bureij refugee camp, joining his parents. pic.twitter.com/nFwzSH7BQS

— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) October 19, 2025

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Costs of essentials still high and unaffordable in Gaza

Gaza’s government is stepping in to regulate prices of cash withdrawal commissions, offering some relief to shoppers in the Strip, but, for many, the cost of essentials remains high.

Gaza’s markets are reportedly beginning to spring back to life and flourishing again.

“In Deir el-Balah’s central market, crowds return, goods fill the stalls – but accessing money to pay for those goods – is a struggle,” said an Al Jazeera reporter. The commission rate has dropped from 45 to 20%, but prices are still too high for many.

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Mehdi Hasan’s quick media analysis: When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire?

On Saturday, The Guardian reported that Israel had been accused by the Gaza Media Office of violating the ceasefire with Hamas “47 times since the truce came into effect in early October, killing 38 Palestinians and wounding another 143.” 

By Sunday, after 45 Palestinians were killed in multiple Israeli air strikes, a Palestinian government office was telling Middle East Eye that Israeli forces had “carried out 80 ceasefire violations since 10 October, killing 97 people and wounding 230 more.”

So what are we to make of the Associated Press reporting that “Gaza’s fragile ceasefire faced its first major test Sunday as Israeli forces launched a wave of deadly strikes, saying Hamas militants had killed two soldiers”?

Or Reuters referring to Israeli strikes on Gaza “after two soldiers killed, in gravest test of truce so far”? What about major media outlets saying the “major” or “gravest” test of the ceasefire was two Israeli soldiers being killed on Sunday, not, say, seven Palestinian kids being killed on Friday? As ever, Palestinian lives don’t count; Palestinians are ‘unpeople’ for much of the mainstream media.

MORE ON MEDIA BIAS: 

Western media’s pre-existing condition? Gaza atrocity denialism

Reuters journalists accuse their own agency of pro-Israel bias

The New York Times commitment to Zionism begins with its own staff

BBC coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza ‘systematically biased against Palestinians’

Revealed: The Israel Lobbyists Writing America’s News

OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM HEADLINES:

(Every day, Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem endure dozens of incidents like the ones below, at the hands of Israeli soldiers and/or settlers. For background on the West Bank, read this and this. For information on the significance of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, read this and this.)

Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Nablus raid, strip, and photograph him

NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL & ISRAELIS

(Get a glimpse inside Israel and the turmoil and contradictions within the country. Often, our news items and headlines are taken from Israeli media.)

Palestinian detainee from Jenin refugee camp dies in Israeli custody

The Civil Affairs Commission announced Sunday that Palestinian detainee Mahmoud Talal Abdullah, 49, has died at Israel’s Assaf Harofeh Hospital.

Despite medical examinations confirming that he had cancer in an advanced stage, the Israeli occupation refused to release him and kept him in detention until he died one day after being transferred to Assaf Harofeh Hospital.

With Abdullah’s death, the number of prisoners and detainees who have died since the onset of the Israeli aggression on October 7, 2023, and whose identities are known, has risen to 79.

RELATED: Haaretz Exposé: Malnutrition, Illness and Death – The Routine for Palestinian Prisoners at Israel’s Megiddo Prison

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Despite war, life expectancy climbs in Israel: Report

HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA:

‘The War of Redemption’: Netanyahu Govt Approves New Name for War in Gaza

• The opposition criticized the move, claiming Netanyahu is trying to ‘manufacture a narrative’ and whitewash his responsibility for October 7 by choosing a name that doesn’t reflect the disaster. The mother of one hostage responded, ‘There is no redemption for Israel’

When Will the Lives, and Deaths, of Palestinian Citizens of Israel Actually Matter?

• For years, Palestinian citizens of Israel have been framed as a security threat, not citizens with equal rights. Police forces are structured to monitor, not protect, us. Until they decide to confront violent crime with the same intensity they direct toward political surveillance, we will continue to live in fear

‘Thank you for bringing her back in a coffin’: Families of murdered hostages lash out at Netanyahu

• Relatives of murdered hostages criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu, with one aunt sarcastically “thanking” him for returning her niece “in a coffin” and others accusing the government of neglect.

Israeli security establishment furious over aid renewal as ceasefire resumes

• Security officials expressed frustration over Israel’s decision to resume humanitarian aid to Gaza in response to US demands. The aid will be renewed despite an earlier decision by the political leadership to stop it following the serious incident in Rafah.

Israel’s Power Obsession: Why Military Might Has Replaced Every Other Option

REMINDER: Israeli PM Netanyahu remains wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

OTHER HEADLINES:

Iran announces legal campaign to hold Israeli officials accountable for ‘crimes against humanity’

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT) – A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:

(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 19, 2025*:

• At least 69,272 Palestinians killed, 180,361 injured – including:
• At least 68,216 killed in Gaza (~20,000 children, 23,000 women) Note: 120 martyrs have been added to the cumulative statistics of martyrs, whose data has been completed and approved by the Judicial Committee following up on the file of reports and missing persons from October 10, 2025 to October 17, 2025.
• At least 1,056 killed in the West Bank (~212 children)
• At least 170,361 injured in Gaza
• More than 10,000 injured in the West Bank
• At least 463 have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including 157 children
• About 414 bodies have been recovered since the ceasefire began

*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 9,500 more are still buried under rubble. Additionally, the numbers of injured and starved are very conservative estimates. Only the dead who are brought to hospitals are included in the official fatality count.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 19, 2025: ~1,658 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 468 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, about 52 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel. 

By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 271 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 205 and 323 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used).

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

• Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
• ‘Wow’: Observers Surprised After Dem Moderate Rejects AIPAC Cash
• From Long Island to the Baltics: Drop Site Investigation Reveals New Details About Canary Mission’s Operations
• Journalist Ryan Grim discusses the disarming of Hamas & executions in Gaza
• My dream home lies in ruins. I will never forgive Israel, or the world
• The Israeli Scramble for Palestine’s Energy Reserves (Pt. 1)
• In pictures: Palestinians return to north Gaza to find devastation
• The Free Press Called Out “Incomplete” Reporting on Gaza’s Starving Children. Here’s the Complete Story.
• From Drug Lords to Death Squads: Israel’s Gaza War Continues through Collaborator Gangs
• Israel’s human shield: the secret Israeli military bunker under Tel Aviv tower struck by Iran
• A short history of the UN’s complicity in Israel’s mass rape propaganda since October 7
• Gaza war has killed an estimated 20,000 kids. CBS News meets many more orphaned, and “always scared.”
• Israel wants to pay US pastors a stipend to spread the word
• We Are Elated by the Gaza Ceasefire News. Now, the World Must Hold Israel to Account for 2 Years of Genocide
• Over 9,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli captivity following exchange deal
• Israeli Soldiers Torched Food, Homes, and a Critical Sewage Treatment Plant in the Wake of Ceasefire Announcement
• Robert Kraft’s pro-Israel, anti-hate group renames itself the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate
• Hostages, captives, prisoners: Western media still privileges Israeli over Palestinian lives
• Trump Keeps Admitting That He Is Bought And Owned By The World’s Richest Israeli
• The Israeli media is reporting on a ‘secret clause’ in the Gaza ceasefire deal that no one is talking about