Eleven members of a Palestinian family were killed on Friday afternoon after Israeli troops fired on their vehicle as it entered eastern Gaza City, where the Israel Defense Forces is deployed, Hamas authorities said.
The IDF confirmed in response to a query that it targeted a vehicle that crossed the so-called Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the ceasefire — in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.
The “suspicious vehicle” had been identified crossing the line and approaching Israeli forces in the area, the army said. According to the IDF, warning shots were first fired toward the car.
After it continued to approach troops, “in a way that threatened them,” the forces struck the vehicle “to remove the threat,” the military said.
Hamas, in a statement, said that the Abu Shaban family was attempting to check their home in eastern Zeitoun when an Israeli tank shelled their vehicle, “resulting in the killing of 11 family members, including 7 children and 3 women.”
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
“This constitutes a full-fledged crime that reveals the occupation’s premeditated intent to target defenseless civilians without any justification,” Hamas said.
هنا ارتكبت مجزرة الاحتلال أمس ..
11 شخصاً ارتقوا بينهم أطفال ونساء جراء قصف مركبة لعائلة أبو شعبان في حي الزيتون شرق مدينة غزة. pic.twitter.com/NrDzNYaQpI
— فضائية النجاح – An-Najah Nbc (@newsnajah) October 18, 2025
The Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense agency said on Saturday that the bodies of the 11 Palestinians had been recovered in cooperation with the United Nations.
The IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians not to enter areas in Gaza currently under Israeli control or approach troops. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that he instructed the military to place physical markers along the Yellow Line so that the boundaries of IDF control are clearly visible.
He said the markers will serve as a warning to “Hamas terrorists and Gaza residents that any violation or attempt to cross the line will be met with fire.”
The Yellow Line, as drawn out by mediators, encompasses over half of the Strip’s territory, or 53% — most of which is outside of urban areas. In reality, the IDF is not holding all of that territory with ground troops, with many of its posts positioned closer to the Israeli border.
This map published by the IDF on October 10, 2025, shows the IDF’s deployment in Gaza following the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal brokered by US President Donald Trump. (Israel Defense Forces)
Also Friday, the IDF said it carried out an airstrike against a group of terror operatives who emerged from a tunnel and approached troops in Khan Younis.
The operatives had “posed an imminent threat” to the forces, and they were targeted “in accordance with the deal,” the military said.
Additionally, several terror operatives emerged from a tunnel in the Rafah area and opened fire on Israeli troops, the IDF said, adding that no injuries were caused in the incident.
On Saturday, the military said an Israeli Navy vessel had fired warning shots at several Palestinian boats that “violated the naval blockade” on Gaza and “posed a threat” to troops off the Strip’s southern coast. It added that the Gazan vessels turned around and there were no reports of injuries in the incident.
Meanwhile, Hamas’s health ministry said Israel had handed over the remains of 15 slain Gazans on Saturday, bringing to 135 the total number of bodies returned to the Strip under the current ceasefire, which was brokered by US President Donald Trump. Israel did not immediately confirm returning the Gazans’ remains.
Palestinians watch Hamas members search for bodies of hostages in an area in Hamad City, Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Trump’s ceasefire proposal stipulated that Israel would hand over the remains of 15 Gazans killed during the war for each deceased hostage that Hamas returns to Israel.
Hamas, late on Friday, returned the 10th body of a hostage under the ceasefire, with 18 more still in Gaza. Israel has accused the terror group of violating the deal by withholding some hostages’ bodies that it has access to. Hamas has claimed it is having difficulties locating remains, though Israeli officials have insisted the terror group can presently reach at least several more.
The remaining 18 hostages include 17 abducted in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza war, and a soldier killed fighting in the 2014 Gaza war.
In accordance with the deal, Hamas released the last 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday, within 72 hours of Israel’s October 10 withdrawal to the Yellow Line. In exchange, Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
UN aid chief foresees ‘massive job’ ahead on tour of ruined Gaza
Hamas is urging mediators to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, expedite the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and start reconstruction of the battered territory.
Under Trump’s ceasefire proposal, some 600 humanitarian aid trucks would be allowed to enter each day. COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid in Gaza, reported 950 trucks — including commercial trucks and bilateral deliveries — crossing on Thursday and 716 on Wednesday, the UN said.
Trucks carrying aid provided by the UN’s World Food Programme drive on a road in Deir el-Balah after entering through the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 17, 2025. (BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
On Saturday, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher took stock of the monumental task of restoring basic necessities in the devastated enclave.
In a short convoy of white UN jeeps, Fletcher and his team wound their way through the twisted rubble of shattered homes to inspect a wastewater treatment plant in Sheikh Radwan, north of Gaza City.
“I drove through here seven to eight months ago when most of these buildings were still standing, and, to see the devastation, this is a vast part of the city, just a wasteland, and it’s absolutely devastating to see,” he told AFP.
Surveying the damaged pumping equipment and a grim lake of sewage at the wastewater plant, Fletcher said the task ahead for the UN and aid agencies was a “massive, massive job.”
Palestinians stand in line to obtain drinking water in the northern Gaza Strip on October 4, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)
The British diplomat said he had met residents returning to destroyed homes trying to dig latrines in the ruins. Several Gazans who have spoken to AFP said they were unable to locate their houses — or even familiar landmarks — in neighborhoods now buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings and debris.
“They’re telling me most of all they want dignity,” said Fletcher. “We’ve got to get the power back on so we can start to get the sanitation system back in place.”
“We have a massive 60-day plan now to surge in food, get a million meals out there a day, start to rebuild the health sector, bring in tents for the winter, get hundreds of thousands of kids back into school,” he said.
The UN declared famine in Gaza City in an August report rejected by Israel. The UN also says it has verified more than 400 people who died of malnutrition-related causes, including more than 100 children.
Israel says it let in enough food, accusing Hamas of stealing much of it. The UN and other aid agencies deny the accusation.
Packed day with our teams at the Rafah crossing to Gaza, as trucks move in via Kerem Shalom as part of President Trump’s ceasefire deal. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. pic.twitter.com/Yn7VYjiwk3
— Tom Fletcher (@UNReliefChief) October 16, 2025
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, some 68,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the war there was sparked on October 7, 2023. Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.
The health ministry figure cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel said it killed some 22,000 Palestinian gunmen as of August, as well as about 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 invasion.