Child Killed in Bureij as Gaza Death Toll Reports Diverge
Israeli strikes and tank fire hit multiple sites in Gaza on Monday, August 24, killing a boy in Bureij among others, as the AP and Al Jazeera report different death tolls.
The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes and tank operations across multiple sites in the Gaza Strip on Monday, August 24, killing, among others, a four-year-old boy in the Bureij refugee camp in the central part of the enclave. The Associated Press, citing hospital sources, put the day’s death toll at a minimum of four, while Qatar-based Al Jazeera, relying on the Palestinian news agency Wafa, reported at least seven dead. The gap follows a pattern that has accompanied nearly every day of strikes since the October 2025 ceasefire took hold: the two outlets draw on different sources at different points in the day, and a final count usually only settles the next morning.
A Boy in Bureij and a Girl Near Khan Younis
According to Al-Awda Hospital, the Israeli strike hit a building in Bureij after the military had already ordered the evacuation of four structures in that part of Gaza. One family did not make it out in time. The strike killed a four-year-old boy, while his mother and sister were wounded and taken to the same hospital. Al Jazeera identified the boy as Hassan al-Hafi. The Israeli military has not commented on the strike.
A separate case was recorded east of Khan Younis, where a ten-year-old girl was killed. Here the two outlets disagree not only on the toll but on how she died: the Associated Press reported that she was killed by tank fire, while Al Jazeera said the Israeli military shot her directly, identifying her as Amal Nashat Abu Hater. The Israeli military said it was not aware of the case and did not comment on it immediately.
In Deir al-Balah, one man was killed in a strike on a tent, and his body was taken in by Al-Aqsa Hospital. The military says he was a member of a Hamas special unit. In Khan Younis, a strike killed another man and wounded five people, according to Nasser Hospital, which treated the wounded.
Military Says It Targeted Weapons Depots in Mosques
The Israeli military said the strikes on the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City and on Deir al-Balah followed prior warnings, and that the targets were two Hamas weapons depots located inside mosques. The military said the sites held assault rifles, ammunition magazines and additional military equipment, though it did not make evidence public.
Al Jazeera, citing a report from its Deir al-Balah correspondent Tariq Abu Azzoum, said evacuation orders were issued that day for at least four locations, including, alongside residential buildings, a water desalination plant, a humanitarian aid warehouse and tents housing displaced families.
A witness from Zawayda, where a warehouse was hit the day before, described the aftermath of the strike to Al Jazeera:
“There is no ceasefire, there is nothing. We want a solution, we want to live in peace.”
A Week After the US Call to Scale Back Strikes
The new wave of strikes comes exactly one week after a US delegation, including negotiator Jared Kushner, urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back military operations in Gaza and let the October 2025 ceasefire move toward its next phases. Instead of easing off, Israel has carried out strikes on six of the seven days since that meeting.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 1,288 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, against five Israeli soldiers killed on the other side. Al Jazeera’s running total, counted from the start of the war in October 2023, puts the toll at 73,422 dead and 174,401 wounded.
The day before Monday’s strikes, on Sunday, August 23, three people were killed, among them four-year-old Mohammed Abdel Salam Taha, in strikes on Khan Younis and Zawayda.
Netanyahu Threatens Harsher Strikes Over Kites From Gaza
Alongside the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to intensify attacks further and to displace residents from parts of Gaza from which, they said, kites, drones and balloons are being launched toward Israeli territory. The threat followed a weekend in which four kites reached an Israeli kibbutz near Gaza; the military found nothing suspicious on any of them.
“If the launches toward Israel are not stopped immediately, the Israeli military will respond by intensifying strikes on those responsible for the launches,” Netanyahu and Katz said in a joint statement.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem responded that the kites are “essentially children’s toys” and accused Israel of using the threats to “justify the continuation of aggression and violations of our people’s rights.”
The pattern holds: the ceasefire is formally in its tenth month, but each side keeps presenting its own version of the same events, and, as on Monday, the death toll rarely matches.
