Hamas rejects IDF accusations that it shot at Israeli troops, and condemns a wave of Israeli strikes across the Strip that reportedly killed at least 21 people since dawn.
The strikes came after the IDF said gunmen fired on troops in northern Gaza overnight, seriously wounding a reservist officer. The military accused Hamas of a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.
In a statement, Hamas says Israel’s “claims of a shooting targeting one of its soldiers are nothing more than a pretext to continue the killing of our people,” and adds that the IDF strikes “represent deliberate sabotage of efforts to establish a ceasefire.”
Hamas says four children have been killed in subsequent IDF strikes. Its civil defense, as well as the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, previously said that a paramedic had been killed in a strike on al-Mawasi. Reports from earlier today had said three children were killed in the strikes.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, since dawn hospitals in the Strip have received a total of 38 wounded people and the bodies of 21 people killed in the IDF strikes.
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Wednesday, February 4, 2026
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