Israeli airstrike kills at least two in Gaza City

An Israeli airstrike killed at least two Palestinians on Omar Al-Mokhtar Road in Gaza City on Sunday, and several others were wounded, medics said. The strike hit a group of people in the heart of the city, adding another deadly episode to a conflict that continues to press hardest on civilians trying to move, find shelter and reach care.

Health officials said the toll stood at at least two after the strike, with the dead identified as Palestinians killed in the attack. The scene on Omar Al-Mokhtar Road, a busy stretch in Gaza City, reflected the daily exposure faced by residents in dense urban areas where military activity can quickly turn ordinary streets into casualty sites.

Two days earlier, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said people across Gaza, including humanitarian workers, remained exposed to airstrikes, other military activity, new or protracted displacement and persisting health risks. It said overcrowding and limited access to basic services were continuing to undermine safety and well-being, while expansion of areas under Israeli control in Gaza endangers civilians and relief efforts.

The World Health Organization says Gaza’s health system remains severely under-resourced after years of blockade and hostilities, with essential health services compromised. It has also warned that attacks on health have damaged hospitals, ambulances, health workers and patients, leaving medics to operate in conditions that have become more difficult as the fighting continues.

Sunday’s deaths followed a string of recent lethal incidents. On June 16, another Israeli strike killed at least two Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip. On June 3, Israeli strikes killed three Palestinians in Gaza, and Hamas said an end to such attacks was crucial to further talks on safeguarding a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Late in June, UNRWA said Israeli military activity continued, especially in eastern Gaza City and Khan Younis, causing civilian casualties and damage to critical facilities.

The strike in Gaza City underscored how quickly violence still ripples through neighborhoods already marked by displacement, damaged infrastructure and scarce medical capacity. With several more people wounded on Omar Al-Mokhtar Road, the immediate toll reached beyond the dead and into a health system still struggling to cope.