Updates: Israel launches ‘wave’ of air strikes on Gaza as truce teeters

Read our Gaza reporter Maram Humaid’s reflections on the precarious Gaza ceasefire here.

Just how shaky did the truce get today? Read here on how both sides say the other breached the ceasefire.

And for all of our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza after two years, go here.

This live page will soon close. Here are the day’s main developments:

• Palestinian officials confirmed to Al Jazeera that Israel’s announcement that the ceasefire in Gaza has been restored, after it was breached multiple times when Israeli army fire killed dozens throughout the Strip since dawn.
• Israel’s military committed 80 violations since the truce took effect on October 10, killing 97 people and wounding another 230, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.
• The Israeli army said two of its soldiers were killed and three others wounded in southern Gaza, but it gave no information on the incident.
• Hamas said it needs a DNA testing device to identify the bodies returned by Israel, noting that some show signs of torture.
• A Hamas delegation arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to follow up on the implementation of the truce as negotiations begin on the second phase of the deal.

Ten days after signing the ceasefire deal, Israel continues to threaten Palestinians’ access to aid in famine-hit Gaza.

Former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness speaks to AJ+ about the conditions of the ceasefire, what it says about aid, and what that means for Palestinians on the ground.

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The Jerusalem Post reports, citing Health Ministry data, that life expectancy in Israel has increased by nearly a year from 2023, to 83.8 years.

While Israel has suffered some casualties in the regional wars it launched over the past two years, its losses represent a fraction of the horrors it unleashed on Gaza.

According to a study published by The Lancet medical journal earlier this year, life expectancy in Gaza dropped from 75.5 to 40.5 years between October 2023 and September 2024, the first year of the genocide.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned by Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Israel accuses Hamas of violating the ceasefire by attacking Israeli troops early on Sunday, killing two soldiers and injuring three others. The military said in response to this violation that it conducted a series of air strikes targeting Hamas infrastructure and operatives in Gaza, even though there were many civilians killed across the Palestinian territory.

It’s worth mentioning that the military announced later in the evening that it’s now fully enforcing the ceasefire, but will respond to any violations firmly.

But also, to the main sticking point, Israel says it’s still waiting for 16 bodies of deceased hostages to be returned from the Gaza Strip, and until that happens, that’s when it’s willing to discuss the next phase of Trump’s peace plan.

On Monday, we can expect the American envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, along with Jared Kushner, to go to Israel. We can also expect to see the American vice president, JD Vance, coming in later in the week to talk about implementing the next steps of the plan, because they were quite clear that US President Donald Trump does not want this to collapse – given how many people in the world are backing it, and given the countries that have invested a lot of time, effort and energy to get both sides to agree to this deal.

Jared Kushner, billionaire real estate scion, is shaping Gaza’s future.

Why is the US president’s son-in-law at the heart of the Gaza ceasefire deal – and the future of the Middle East?

Ahmad Qabalan, the Shia Muslim grand mufti of Lebanon, who is close to Hezbollah, has expressed opposition to direct negotiations with Israel amid reports that the Lebanese government is looking to hold talks over the ceasefire between the two countries.

“Israel is an absolute enemy, and any direct negotiations with it could blow up the country,” Qabalan said in a statement.

Hezbollah and its allies have long rejected direct talks with Israel, seeing it as a form of recognition of the Israeli state.

Israel has been violating the ceasefire deal on a daily basis, launching attacks across the country while continuing to occupy parts of south Lebanon and preventing reconstruction and return of displaced residents in border communities.

In his statement, Qabalan accused the Lebanese government of neglecting the plight of people in southern Lebanon.

Qabalan stressed that the people who fended off the Israeli invasion last year “will not give up through politics what they did not give up through war”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli troops shot the young Palestinian at the Qalandiya crossing in the north of occupied East Jerusalem.

Last month, six people were killed in a shooting attack in occupied East Jerusalem, as an accelerated violent crackdown by the Israeli army and settlers in the occupied West Bank continues.

Many Palestinians in Gaza are afraid that war is coming back after Israeli attacks on the enclave killed dozens of people.

Abdullah Abu Hasanin, 29, from the al‑Bureij camp in central Gaza, where Israel launched strikes, said: “The situation is as if the war has returned anew.”

“We had hoped the agreement would hold, but the occupation respects nothing – not an agreement, not anything,” he said.

Hasanin said he rushed to the site of the bombing to help, adding that “the scene is indescribable. Blood has returned again”.

Earlier, we reported an attack by an Israeli settler who beat a woman unconscious as she tried to harvest olives in the occupied West Bank.

The attack occurred in the town of Turmus Aya, east of Ramallah. Images showed a masked settler wielding a stick, repeatedly striking the woman in her 50s on the head until she collapsed to the ground, before assaulting two foreign activists who came to assist.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese condemned the attack. “For two years, the world has seen scenes like this from the West Bank. I wonder where decent Israelis are…?”

For 2 years, the world has seen scenes like this from the West Bank. I wonder where decent Israelis are; those who protest in Tel Aviv. Hatred of Hamas is one thing, but do they not feel some obligation to act to stop their fellow citizens behaving like criminals on the loose? https://t.co/N9fT4mVc60

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) October 19, 2025

Palestinians are grieving 11 members of a family killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City on Friday.

It was the deadliest single violation of the shaky ceasefire until today, before Israel started carrying out renewed attacks on the enclave, killing dozens of people.

Watch our report below:

Late on October 8, while everyone else in the house was asleep, I lay awake scrolling through my phone and journalist chat groups for updates. There were conflicting accounts from the ceasefire talks — of progress, setbacks, hope and doubt.

As my phone battery dwindled, I finally drifted off to sleep, stirred occasionally by distant shelling that told me what my phone couldn’t.

When I awoke just before dawn on October 9, my Wi-Fi was dead. I rushed to the roof, searching for an eSIM signal. The sun was rising as updates loaded onto my phone, and there it was: “Announcement of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza — to take effect within hours.”

Read more here.

Palestinian sources have confirmed to Al Jazeera that the ceasefire in Gaza has been restored.

The mediators’ contacts played a role in bringing it back into effect after a day of mass casualty attacks by Israeli forces.

Egypt, Turkiye, Qatar and the United States are the main mediators involved in negotiations.

Discussions are now under way to establish a binding mechanism to address any future violations of the truce in Gaza, sources said.

The UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says “the ceasefire must hold and humanitarian aid must get through to those in need”.

“We call upon all parties to uphold President Trump’s peace plan to avoid any further bloodshed,” said Cooper.

The statement comes after the Israeli military launched attacks on Gaza that killed dozens of people after claiming two of its soldiers were killed in a Hamas attack, an accusation Hamas denied.

The escalation today in Gaza is deeply concerning.

The ceasefire must hold and humanitarian aid must get through to those in need.

We call upon all parties to uphold President Trump’s peace plan to avoid any further bloodshed.

— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) October 19, 2025

The Israeli prime minister says the two soldiers killed in southern Gaza today fought “to protect Israel’s security”.

“On behalf of the entire people of Israel, my wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the Nahal Brigade soldiers,” he said, adding they “fell in the difficult incident in Rafah”.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu also wished a speedy recovery to the soldier wounded in the same incident.

Major Yaniv Kula, 26, and Sergeant Itay Yavetz, 21, were killed in southern Gaza earlier.

Israel launched a series of strikes in Gaza in response to alleged attacks on its forces in southern Gaza, killing more than 40 people, according to medical sources.

After months of relentless bombing, a fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza.

Video journalist Bisan Owda returns to Gaza’s north for the first time in months, documenting the destruction and meeting families making their return, hoping to rebuild their homes from dust and rubble.

What she captures isn’t just destruction — it’s the pain of returning and the strength of people trying to start over again.

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