Israel carried out a new round of airstrikes across Gaza on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 — the third anniversary of the Hamas attacks that ignited the war — killing five people, Palestinian officials said. The strikes landed as families of the 2023 Nova music festival victims gathered at dawn to mourn, with explosions from Gaza audible across the border.
Five Dead Across Gaza City, Khan Yunis and a Refugee Camp
In Gaza City, Al-Shifa Hospital reported two people killed in an overnight Israeli strike. Gaza's civil defence agency identified one of the dead as Mohamed Tamous, a volunteer with the agency. The Israeli military said it struck and killed "two Hamas terrorists who had exited Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip," adding that one had "planted explosives... in the area of the Yellow Line with the intention of harming IDF troops." The military identified Tamous as a sniper in Hamas's military wing while simultaneously working for civil defence. The Yellow Line demarcates the areas under Hamas and Israeli military control.
In the southern city of Khan Yunis, Nasser Hospital said a 60-year-old man, Hisham Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, was killed in a strike and others were injured. The hospital also received the body of Ziad Zaarab, killed in an airstrike south of Khan Yunis that left several injured. A separate afternoon strike on a tent in the Al-Buraq camp killed another person; the military told AFP it had targeted a "military operative" in that strike, without commenting on the others.
A Dawn of Mourning on Both Sides of the Border
Loud bangs from Gaza were audible from the site of the Nova music festival just as relatives gathered at dawn to mourn the more than 300 revellers killed there three years ago. Hundreds paid their respects at the festival site; at 6:29 a.m. — the exact minute the first rockets were launched in 2023 — relatives embraced as explosions echoed from nearby Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
Across Gaza, where nearly the entire population has been displaced by three years of bombardment, Palestinians sheltering among ruined cities recalled life before a war that has killed more than 74,200 people, according to the Gaza health ministry — figures the United Nations considers reliable. The October 7, 2023 attacks killed about 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 taken hostage.
A Fragile Ceasefire Under Strain
The strikes came under a US-brokered ceasefire that has held since October 2025, though more than 1,460 people have been killed since it took effect. Israel says it controls roughly 60% of the Gaza Strip under the arrangement. Wednesday's violence underscores how quickly the anniversary of the war's start can pull both sides back to the brink, even as diplomats push to extend the truce.
The takeaway: three years after the deadliest day in Israel's history, the October 7 anniversary brought not a pause but a fresh exchange of fire — mourners on one side of the border, strikes on the other, and a ceasefire that looks thinner with every flare-up.
Sources: AFP via Malay Mail · The Japan Times · CNA
Watch: NDTV video report on the anniversary-day strikes, the Nova dawn memorial, and the Gaza destruction
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Long Road Ahead B (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0