GAZA CITY — Israeli air strikes and artillery fire killed at least 12 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. It was one of the deadliest days since the US-brokered ceasefire took effect in October 2025. Rescue workers said the dead included women and children in Khan Younis and eastern Gaza City.

A spokesperson for the civil defence agency said one strike hit a tent encampment for displaced families west of Khan Younis. Another hit a residential building in the Shujaiya district, he said. The health ministry in Gaza said dozens more were wounded and taken to Nasser Hospital and al-Shifa Hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that its troops had fired on militants who approached forces near the so-called yellow line. That line marks the zone of Gaza still under Israeli military control. The military said it had also struck Hamas targets in response to what it called a violation of the ceasefire terms.

The truce has repeatedly frayed since it began, with both sides trading accusations of breaches. The health ministry in Gaza has recorded hundreds of deaths since the ceasefire started. Talks on the deployment of an international stabilisation force and the disarmament of Hamas have stalled, according to mediators in Egypt and Qatar.

The violence came as Israel's political parties negotiated over a new coalition after last month's Knesset election. Humanitarian agencies, including the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned that winter rains and shortages of shelter material were worsening conditions for displaced families. Aid groups said renewed strikes were disrupting distribution of food and fuel.

"Every time families begin to believe the war is over, the bombs return," a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.