Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
UN monitors in the Occupied Palestinian Territory reported that 26 Palestinians were killed over the Eid al-Adha holiday as Israeli airstrikes intensified while families prepared for the religious observance. On 26 May, three separate airstrikes killed 12 people, including a teenage girl who died from injuries sustained the previous day. One strike reportedly killed four men in a camp in Middle Gaza after resistance to home searches, while another killed two men in a car in Khan Younis. A third strike in Gaza City killed a newly appointed commander of the Hamas Al Qassam Brigades, his wife, three children, and a woman passerby. Subsequently, 10 individuals allegedly affiliated with the same group were killed in an attack on 27 May, according to initial reports.
The UN human rights office noted that since the ceasefire announcement in October, Israeli forces have killed 922 Palestinians in Gaza, raising the overall death toll since 7 October 2023 to nearly 73,000, including at least 32 children and eight women. The blockade continues to deprive Palestinians of adequate shelter, essential medicines, food, and necessities, with nearly the entire population displaced and concentrating in an increasingly narrow area amid ongoing displacement orders.
Rights investigators also highlighted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's directive to expand Israeli military deployment over 70 percent of Gaza's territory. They emphasized that restricted safe areas raise serious concerns over humanitarian access and civilian safety. Ajith Sunghay, head of the human rights office in the OPT, stated that the commission of war crimes remains a concern, describing the situation as unthinkable due to chronic displacement, blockade, and destruction of essential systems such as healthcare and education.
Additionally, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported an airstrike hitting a residential area near five humanitarian facilities in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, with no casualties reported.