Four months after the ceasefire came into force, Israeli attacks continue intermittently against the Gaza Strip, where this Tuesday, February 10, the Army killed at least four people, while the reopening of the Rafah crossing remains partial and therefore fails to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. In parallel, the siege continues in the West Bank: the Minister of Energy, Eli Cohen, assured in recent hours that the new measures that reinforce Israeli control there are equivalent to "de facto sovereignty" and the basis that "there will not be a Palestinian State."

First modification: 02/10/2026 - 14:54 Last modification: 02/10/2026 - 15:13

This Tuesday, February 10, at least four Palestinians died in two different airstrikes carried out by the Israeli Army in the center and south of the Gaza Strip, as confirmed by medical sources in the Palestinian enclave to the EFE news agency.

Among the victims are a woman and two young people who were traveling on an electric motorcycle along the Salah al Din road, one of the main arteries of the enclave.

According to a medical source from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the two young people died after being hit by an Israeli drone, an attack that also left several people injured. The bodies were transferred to that hospital, located in the central area of ​​the Palestinian territory.

Despite the ceasefire, which came into force on October 10, 2025, the siege of the Jewish-majority state has not completely stopped. According to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, since the beginning of the truce at least 590 people have died and more than 1,500 have been injured by actions of the Israeli Army.

Israel maintains that its forces act against people who approach restricted areas or military positions. In particular, operations are concentrated in areas near the so-called “yellow line”, an unofficially delimited security strip where the Israeli Army maintains troops deployed and from which it continues to exercise military control over more than half of the enclave.

Attacks remain part of daily routine in Gaza. On Monday, at least nine Palestinians were killed in different parts of the territory. Four of them were identified by the Israeli Army as suspected militants who emerged from a tunnel in Rafah, in the south of the Strip, and shot at Israeli soldiers. The version was released in an official statement, although no evidence was presented to support this statement.

That same day, four other people died after the bombing of a home in Gaza City. The victims were displaced people from Beit Hanoun, in the north of the enclave, who had taken refuge in the attacked building. Hospital and Ministry of Health sources confirmed the deaths.

Additionally, a fifth person, identified by local sources as a farmer, was killed in another airstrike in Deir al Balah, central Gaza.

Read also “Where is the truce?”: five children and seven women, among twenty dead in Gaza due to Israeli attacks

Rafah, a completely limited crossing

In parallel to the attacks, the Rafah crossing partially returned to operation on February 2, after almost two years of closure, with the exception of a brief period during a previous truce in early 2025. The reopening occurred within the framework of the ceasefire agreement sponsored by the United States, although only for the transit of people and not for goods or humanitarian aid.

Rafah is the only entry and exit point for most of Gaza's more than two million residents that is not directly controlled by Israel. Its reopening was presented as a key step to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, although initial results have been much lower than expected.

During midnight on Monday, a total of 40 Palestinians returned to Gaza through the Rafah crossing. These were 20 patients and 20 companions who had previously left the enclave to receive medical treatment outside the territory. Medical and emergency sources confirmed to EFE that the buses transporting them arrived at the parking lot of the Naser Hospital, in southern Gaza.

Some of the vehicles carried United Nations signs and were received by family members with hugs, tears and scenes of relief, after weeks or months of separation.

In the first week since the reopening of the Rafah crossing, around 230 Palestinians, including the sick, wounded and their companions, managed to leave for Egypt to receive medical treatment, while 182 people returned to Gaza. These figures were compiled by EFE from diplomatic sources and the Palestinian and Egyptian Red Crescent, given the initial absence of official data.

Only a week later did the Israeli authorities release official figures. The military body Cogat reported that 150 people crossed Rafah in each direction since the reopening.

According to these data, 100 patients and their companions left for Egypt last week, and the same number entered Gaza from Egyptian territory. On Sunday, another 50 people left and 50 returned to the enclave.

Cogat noted that transit through Rafah depends on approval from Egyptian authorities and the World Health Organization, in addition to the operational capacity of the crossing. In its statement, the organization stated that Israel will continue to work with its partners to facilitate the movement of people, in accordance with the framework agreed in the truce.

However, Egyptian sources indicated that the volume of people who have crossed the pass is far below initial expectations, which contemplated between 150 and 200 people daily.

Furthermore, in the first seven days of reopening, Israel did not allow humanitarian aid to enter through Rafah, despite the fact that the ceasefire plan contemplated that possibility.

Read alsoReopening of the Rafah crossing works in dribs and drabs; Israel kills another Palestinian

Thousands of patients still waiting for medical evacuation

The World Health Organization confirmed that more than 16,000 patients in the Gaza Strip are still awaiting medical evacuation to access treatments that are not available in the enclave.

The local health network continues to function with extremely limited resources, after months of bombings and restrictions on the entry of medical supplies.

In this context, Reuters reported that a convoy with Palestinians who would be evacuated, along with their companions, left this Tuesday from the Red Crescent Field Hospital in Khan Younis, towards the Rafah crossing, as part of ongoing humanitarian efforts.

Read alsoIsrael reopens the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to a limited number of Palestinians

Israeli minister stresses "de facto sovereignty" in the West Bank and rules out a Palestinian state

Israel continues to emphasize its control in all the Palestinian Territories, beyond Gaza and despite international mediations to effectively recognize a Palestinian State.

Energy Minister Eli Cohen assured Israel Army Radio on Tuesday that the measures adopted by Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which deepen Israeli control in the occupied West Bank, amount to the implementation of "de facto sovereignty."

The measures "in effect establish a fact on the basis that there will not be a Palestinian state," Cohen stressed.

His statements confirm critics' warnings about the intention behind the new decisions of the Jewish-majority state.

The measures, approved on Sunday, February 8 by Netanyahu's Security Cabinet, expand Israel's authority to apply law on land use and planning in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, making it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up their land.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Sunday that they would lift long-standing restrictions on the sale of land to Israeli Jews in the West Bank, transfer some control over sensitive holy sites — including Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs — and declassify land records to facilitate property acquisition.

In 2025, US President Donald Trump declared that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. The US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which sought to stop the war in Gaza, also recognized Palestinian aspirations to create a state, but Israel openly declares that it is not moving in that direction.

The measures further erode the Palestinian Authority's limited powers and it is unclear to what extent it can oppose them.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' cabinet "ordered all Palestinian institutions, both public and private, not to engage with these Israeli measures and to strictly adhere to current Palestinian laws and regulations."

A group of eight Arab and Muslim-majority countries expressed their "absolute rejection" of the measures, calling them illegal, in a joint statement issued Monday and warning that they would "fuel violence and conflict in the region."

Read alsoIsrael admits 70,000 Palestinians killed in two years of attacks; Rafah crossing will reopen on a limited basis

An international plan with weak points

The partial reopening of Rafah is one of the pillars of the plan promoted by US President Donald Trump to end the war between Israel and Hamas. However, the next phases of the initiative include still unresolved issues, such as the disarmament of Hamas, the further withdrawal of Israeli forces and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

According to Reuters, this multinational force could have around 20,000 soldiers. Indonesia estimated that it could contribute up to 8,000 troops, although it clarified that the mandate, deployment areas and operational aspects of the eventual sending of troops have not yet been defined.

The war began with Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli counts. Since then, the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has exceeded 71,000, according to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

With EFE and Reuters

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