ISRAELI OCCUPIED AND STARVED GAZA, 27 Oct. - (ANA) - Israeli forces on Monday killed two Palestinians in a drone strike in the Absan al-Kabira town, located east of Khan Younis, while the UN agency UNRWA reiterated that Israel has continued to deny its teams entry into the enclave.

 

The Palestinians, who have not yet been identified, were killed and several others critically wounded in the drone strike, which targeted a group of civilians, local Arabic media reported.

 

Shortly before the strike, Israeli gunboats shelled the southern coast of Rafah, The New Arab’s Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said.

 

The Israeli army also bombed several homes in the eastern part of Gaza City, local media reported, while drones continued to fly over the Nuseirat and Bureij camps in the central Gaza Strip.

 

In response, Hamas issued a statement saying that Israel continues to violate the ceasefire deal "around the clock", warning that the humanitarian situation remains dire due to limited amounts of aid coming in.

 

Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya said on the weekend that the group would accept the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces to Gaza, and the movement is in touch with other Palestinian factions about disarmament.

 

"If the occupation ends, these weapons will be handed over to the state," he said, adding that they have now reached a consensus with other Palestinian factions over the presence of UN forces, who would be present to oversee the ceasefire and the rebuilding of the Strip.

 

Israeli media reported on Sunday that Amjad al-Shawa, the head of the network of civil society organisations in Gaza, has been announced by Hamas as the agreed candidate to head the technocratic committee that will manage matters in the next phase of the ceasefire. 

 

Reports further added that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority agreed on his appointment during a meeting which Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo attended, and that they now await approval from the US. 

 

This comes as Hamas urged more food aid and medical assistance to be allowed into the enclave, adding that conditions have not improved since the ceasefire was agreed.

 

Despite the ceasefire stating that 600 trucks of humanitarian aid should enter the Strip daily, UN experts said there has not yet been a single day this number have been allowed to cross the border

 

The UN agency UNRWA said Israel has barred its staff from entering Gaza, and they have also not been able to send aid into the Strip.

 

Many rights groups have noted that an International Court of Justice ruling last week said that Israel must support aid efforts carried out by the UN, including UNRWA, however, Israel has continued to ignore this.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly approved the entry of an Egyptian technical team into the enclave, to assist with the search for the bodies of deceased Israeli captives.

 

The team, along with Red Cross staff members, has been allowed to cross the yellow line, set by the Israeli army inside the Strip and outlined in the truce deal, to search for the bodies. Palestinians who cross the line are shot and killed by the Israeli army.

 

 

The search for the bodies of the remaining captives comes against the backdrop of heightened concerns over the danger of unexploded ordnance.

 

According to UN figures, around a third of the bombs dropped on Gaza failed to detonate, leaving around 66,000 tonnes of unexploded ordnance littered across the enclave.

 

The UN also stated that it would take around 30 years to clear the ordnance from the Strip.

 

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 68,519 Palestinians since October 2023 and has plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian catastrophe. The war has been determined to be a genocide by leading rights groups including Amnesty International.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/27 October 2025 - - -