GAZA CITY (The Thursday Times) — An Israeli airstrike on a metal foundry in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood set fire to tents supplied by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, leaving displaced families who had already lost their homes with almost nothing, residents and aid workers said.
Medics said the strike killed three people, destroyed the foundry, and set nearby tents alight. The Israeli military did not comment on the strike.
Ibrahim Abu Mutlaq, an engineer with the Saudi Center for Culture and Heritage, which delivers aid in Gaza for the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), said seven or eight of the Saudi tents were damaged. His team went back to the camp to hand out replacement tents, food parcels, and hygiene kits. “As you can see, there is nothing left in the area,” he said.
Ghadir Fleifel was in her tent with her daughter when the strikes began. “I took my daughter and ran. The dust was so thick we couldn’t see each other,” she said. She had been displaced before, from near the line Israeli troops withdrew behind under the ceasefire.
Sherine Swairki said her family fled when two strikes hit the foundry, then returned. About two hours later, she said, a young man came to the camp with the Israeli army on the phone, ordering everyone to leave within five minutes. Two more blasts followed. “When we came back, my tent was burned to charcoal,” she said. Her house in Gaza City’s Al-Tuffah neighbourhood had already been destroyed.
Strikes continue under the truce
The Sabra strike came at the end of a day in which Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, local health officials said. Medics said Fadi Rajab and his 13-year-old son Abubakr were killed in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood when an airstrike hit the roof of a shelter for displaced people.
Three more people were killed on Wednesday, including two brothers, Mahmoud and Jamil Al-Absi, when a strike hit their tent in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. The Israeli military said it had targeted terrorists in both areas and gave no further details.
Gaza’s health officials say Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,600 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025. Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.
Winter deepens the shelter crisis
Heavy rain over the weekend flooded tens of thousands of tents across the territory. On Monday, the Board of Peace, the US-led body overseeing the ceasefire, called the situation an immediate humanitarian emergency and said the steps Israel had taken were insufficient. It also urged Hamas to meet its own obligations under the truce.
The Israeli military said it had allowed more than 8,200 trucks into Gaza, carrying supplies that included 91,000 tents. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Hamas bore responsibility for conditions in the territory.
Gulf states have stepped up shelter aid as winter sets in. Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ordered tents for 50,000 people in Gaza after the rains hit the camps.
