Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah kills one Palestinian, wounds 11 as Israel says it targeted a known Hamas militant in central Gaza on Sunday
DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA STRIP — An Israeli strike on a vehicle killed one Palestinian and wounded at least 11 others Sunday, as Israel said it targeted a known Hamas militant in central Gaza amid a truce.
An Israeli strike on a vehicle in the central Gaza Strip killed one Palestinian and wounded at least 11 others on Sunday, October 4, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, as Israel said the operation targeted a known Hamas militant.
The attack occurred south of Deir al-Balah, where Palestinian sources separately reported that a drone struck a vehicle near the Al-Hawouz area. Initial reports put the number of wounded at 10, while hospital officials cited by The Associated Press later said at least 11 people had been injured.
The differing figures appear to reflect updates in the casualty count rather than separate vehicle strikes. The victims were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, a major medical facility serving central Gaza.
Israel's military said the person targeted was a known Hamas militant. No name or additional information supporting that characterization was immediately provided in the publicly available account from the military cited by The Associated Press.
The strike came against the backdrop of a ceasefire that has sharply reduced the scale of the fighting that devastated Gaza after October 2023 but has not ended Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian militant attacks or other episodes of deadly violence.
Hospital officials raise the wounded count to at least 11
Early Palestinian reports said one person had been killed and 10 wounded when the vehicle was struck near Al-Hawouz. The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported the 10-person figure, citing medical sources, while Anadolu Agency reported the same initial casualty count.
Associated Press subsequently reported that health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the casualties were taken, counted at least 11 wounded.
That later hospital figure provides the strongest basis for describing the toll as at least 11 injured while acknowledging that earlier reports placed it at 10. Casualty totals frequently change in the hours after attacks as additional patients reach hospitals or medical authorities reconcile records.
Footage distributed by Reuters Connect and supplied by Anadolu Agency shows a vehicle burning after the strike, people attempting to extinguish the fire and a casualty being transferred to an ambulance. The accompanying material identifies the location as Deir al-Balah and dates the footage to October 4.
The available reporting does not establish how many of the wounded were civilians or whether any of them were affiliated with an armed group.
Israel says a Hamas militant was the target
The Israeli military said it had targeted a known Hamas militant, according to Associated Press.
That assertion is significant because it describes the military's stated objective but does not, by itself, establish the identity or role of the person killed. The publicly available AP account did not identify the alleged militant or provide details of the intelligence used to select the target.
Palestinian reporting offered a different layer of information. WAFA initially said the identity of the person killed had not been determined. A later French-language WAFA report identified the man as Saqr al-Qaisi.
Other Palestinian reports described al-Qaisi as associated with humanitarian relief work. That detail has not been independently reconciled with Israel's assertion that the target was a Hamas militant.
For that reason, the two claims should remain clearly separated: Palestinian sources have identified the man killed, while Israel has described the target as a known Hamas militant. The available evidence reviewed for this article does not independently establish whether those descriptions refer to the same role or resolve the discrepancy.
Sunday's violence extended beyond the vehicle strike
The attack near Deir al-Balah was not the only deadly incident reported in central Gaza on Sunday.
Palestinian sources said a six-year-old girl, identified as Suha Mohammad Nasser, died from wounds sustained after being shot while inside her family's displacement tent in Wadi al-Salqa, south of Deir al-Balah.
Qatar News Agency and WAFA both reported her death, citing medical sources. Those accounts brought the reported Palestinian death toll from Sunday's incidents in the area to at least two, although the girl was not a casualty of the vehicle strike.
Elsewhere, medical sources cited by Anadolu reported five additional Palestinians wounded near the Engineers Syndicate headquarters in northwestern Gaza City, including one person described as being in critical condition.
Witnesses and Palestinian sources also reported artillery fire in other parts of Gaza, including areas around Khan Younis and Al-Maghazi.
Those separate incidents are important when interpreting broader casualty figures. Reports saying 15 people were wounded on Sunday refer to multiple attacks across Gaza, not solely to the vehicle strike near Deir al-Balah.
The ceasefire reduced the war but did not end deadly attacks
The latest strike occurred nearly a year after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in October 2025.
The agreement reduced the scale of sustained combat, but violence has continued. Israel says it conducts strikes against Hamas and other militants who pose threats and in response to what it describes as ceasefire violations, including occasional attacks.
Palestinians, meanwhile, have reported continuing Israeli airstrikes, artillery fire and shootings during the truce.
Associated Press reported Sunday that at least 1,445 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire, citing the territory's Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in that figure.
AP also reported that seven Israeli soldiers had been killed in Gaza during the ceasefire period.
The competing accounts of ceasefire violations illustrate why describing the agreement simply as an end to the conflict can be misleading. Large-scale hostilities have been curtailed, but armed confrontations and targeted attacks have continued to produce casualties.
Deir al-Balah remains central to Gaza's medical response
The location of Sunday's strike also highlights the continuing importance of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Situated in Deir al-Balah, the facility has repeatedly received casualties from attacks across central Gaza. Its role became increasingly important as the war damaged medical infrastructure and placed hospitals across the enclave under severe pressure.
That makes hospital-based casualty counts particularly relevant when initial reports differ. In Sunday's case, local sources first reported 10 wounded, while officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital subsequently gave Associated Press a figure of at least 11.
The distinction is small numerically but important journalistically. Reporting the later hospital count while noting the earlier figure avoids presenting an evolving casualty total as a contradiction.
It also illustrates the difficulty of establishing immediate figures in Gaza, where strikes can generate simultaneous reports from witnesses, emergency services, hospitals, news agencies and government authorities.
A targeted strike leaves unanswered questions
Several important details remained unresolved in the hours after the attack.
Israel had not publicly provided, in the material reviewed for this report, the name of the person it said was targeted or evidence detailing his alleged role in Hamas. Palestinian sources identified the dead man as Saqr al-Qaisi, but accounts of his background require further independent verification.
The status of the wounded was also unclear. Available reports did not provide a full list of names, ages or affiliations, making it impossible to determine from verified information how many were civilians.
Those unanswered questions matter because targeted strikes in populated areas raise two separate factual issues: whom the military intended to hit and who was actually killed or injured.
Sunday's attack can be described with confidence on the central points supported by multiple reports: a vehicle was struck near Deir al-Balah, one Palestinian was killed, at least 11 people were reported wounded by hospital officials, and Israel said it was targeting a known Hamas militant.
What remains unresolved is the full identity and status of the target and the people injured around him.
Nearly a year into the ceasefire, the incident is another indication that the agreement has not eliminated lethal military action in Gaza. The next stage of reporting will depend on whether Israel releases additional information about its target and whether Palestinian medical authorities provide a final accounting of those wounded.
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