GAZA CITY/GENEVA: Gaza’s civil defence said Israeli attacks killed eight people in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, which acts as a rescue force under Hamas, said that the eight people were killed in Israeli attacks including airstrikes and gunfire.

Nasser Hospital in south Gaza’s Khan Yunis reported receiving four people killed in an airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people. The victims were aged between 10 and 39, and included one woman, the hospital said.

The hospital also received the body of Ahmad Salim, a truck driver who was killed by Israeli fire in Al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza.

UN inquiry urges release of doctor detained since Dec 2024

The Israeli military said Salim ran towards soldiers who were questioning other truck drivers, adding that troops opened fire at him “after perceiving an immediate threat”.

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said it received the bodies of two people: a child killed by Israeli fire east of the city and a man killed in an airstrike west of the city.

It also said it had received the body of a man killed in an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in Gaza City. Israel’s military confirmed that it conducted an airstrike there.

The military said it was looking into the other incidents. Israel and Hamas trade near-daily accusations of truce violations and the Gaza Strip remains gripped by bloodshed as progress on permanently ending the war remains stalled.

UN inquiry

A United Nations inquiry on Wednesday expressed concern at reports of abuse against a prominent Palestinian doctor seized by the Israeli military in Gaza in December 2024 and still being held in Israel and urged his release.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, called for the immediate release of Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Rights groups and Abu Safiya’s lawyer have said his life is in imminent danger, and he continues to be held without charge, according to the Physicians for Human Rights Israel, an Israeli rights group.

“The actions of the Israeli Prison Service guards towards Palestinian detainees raise grave concerns of violations of international law that likely amount to international crimes. Dr. Abu Safiya’s medical condition is the direct result of these actions,” the UN inquiry said in a statement.

An Israel Prison Service spokesperson said on Wednesday: “The allegations and characterisations described are false, outrageous, and entirely without factual basis.” The spokesperson did not name Abu Safiya, but the IPS has previously rejected allegations that he and other doctors have been mistreated in prison. On Monday, Abu Safiya’s lawyer alleged that his health was in danger and that he had been subjected to abuse daily. In June, Abu Safiya attended a Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem via video link and appeared noticeably thinner in the face and around his abdomen.

The UN inquiry said the reported conduct of the Israeli authorities towards Abu Safiya reflects a broader pattern of violations that it identified in previous reports. In September 2025, it said the Israeli authorities had committed genocide by targeting the healthcare system and medical professionals in Gaza since October 2023, an accusation that Israel described as scandalous.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2026