By Middle East Correspondent
LONDON, (The Muslim News): Israeli attacks across Gaza killed five Palestinians and wounded six others on Saturday, including two Christian women who supported displaced families and a university lecturer killed alongside her mother, as Israeli forces continued violations of a ceasefire in place since October 2025.
At least 16 Palestinians were also injured in attacks on olive harvesters across the occupied West Bank, while Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians and raided dozens of homes. Israeli forces also continued attacks in southern Lebanon, demolishing a school and setting homes on fire.
In Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike hit the ground floor of the Al-Asala 1 residential building near Haidar roundabout in western Rimal at about 1.30am, killing five people and injuring six, according to medical sources.
The victims included Maysa Abu Daoud, known as Umm Michel; her daughter Mary Najjar, known as Umm Fouad; university lecturer Yasmin al-Boubou; and al-Boubou’s mother, Halloum.
Local sources and eyewitnesses said Israeli warplanes fired at least two missiles at an apartment, destroying it and damaging neighbouring homes. The strike also sparked a fire.
Maysa and Mary were Palestinian Christians who supported parishioners and displaced families sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza.
Palestine’s Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs said the women had dedicated themselves to serving their community. Its chairman, Ramzi Khoury, described their deaths as a “painful loss” for their families, the church and parishioners.
Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa also mourned the women.
Their funeral was held on Saturday at Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City’s Old City.
Mary’s 14-year-old son, Fouad al-Najjar, told Anadolu the strike hit the building at about 1.30am.
“My grandmother and my mother died. May God have mercy on them,” he said.
He called for an end to the war, saying Palestinians continued to lose loved ones every day.
“We are exhausted by this war and have endured so much,” he said. “For almost three years, we have been living through the same destruction, the same grief and the same war.”
Najjar said Israeli attacks had killed Muslims and Christians alike.
“The occupation does not distinguish between a Muslim and a Christian. I have personally lost many Muslims and Christians who were dear to me,” he said.
Palestinian Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac, who serves in Ramallah and directs the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice, wrote on X: “The genocide continues in Gaza.”
Israeli attacks have previously struck Christian communities and church compounds in Gaza. On October 19, 2023, an attack on the Saint Porphyrius Church compound killed at least 18 people. In December that year, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an Israeli sniper killed a woman and her daughter inside the Holy Family parish compound.
An Israeli strike on the Holy Family Catholic Church compound on July 17, 2025, killed three people and injured others, including parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli.
Saturday’s attack also killed Yasmin al-Boubou, a lecturer in the Multimedia Department at the University of Palestine’s College of Intermediate Studies in Gaza.
Al-Boubou had previously headed the university’s Multimedia Technology Department and was pursuing a doctorate in computer science and artificial intelligence. Her 2021 master’s thesis examined students’ perceptions of Palestinian universities in Gaza.
Academic Louay Jouda mourned al-Boubou and her mother on Facebook, saying Israel continued to commit “massacres against innocent people”. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor chairman Ramy Abdu also mourned her death, while academic Iyad al-Qarra described her as a distinguished scholar.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said in a September 28 report that it had documented the deaths of about 194 intellectuals, academics and researchers, along with more than 830 teachers and education workers.
Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli forces demolished buildings and facilities east of the Tuffah neighbourhood in northeastern Gaza City.
Israeli artillery also shelled areas south and east of Khan Younis and north of Rafah, accompanied by sustained gunfire. Israeli military vehicles opened fire east of Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to eyewitnesses.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli violations of the ceasefire had killed at least 1,439 Palestinians and wounded 5,052 others as of Thursday.
Since October 2023, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,000 wounded in Gaza, according to Palestinian figures. About 90 per cent of the territory’s infrastructure has been destroyed.
West Bank attacks by Israeli forces and illegal Israeli settlers
At least 16 Palestinians, including a woman, were injured in attacks on olive harvesters across the occupied West Bank on Saturday. About 55 olive trees were also burned.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said five Palestinians were beaten while harvesting olives in Sebastia, north of Nablus. Three others were injured in Asira al-Qibliya, south of Nablus, while two were injured after being sprayed with pepper spray in nearby Beit Imrin.
A farmer suffered bruising after being attacked while harvesting olives in Arrabuna, east of Jenin.
In Rantis, northwest of Ramallah, illegal Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian man, his wife and their children with sticks, weapons and pepper spray in the Al-Tin al-Shami area, injuring five family members, Wafa reported. The woman was also run over.
In the Abu Dis wilderness area, southeast of Jerusalem, about 55 olive trees, some more than 40 years old, were burned on Palestinian land, according to Wafa news agency.
Farmers harvesting olives east of Qalqilya were also assaulted as Israeli settlers attempted to prevent them reaching their land, according to local sources.
The olive harvest, which generally runs from early October to late November, is a crucial source of income for Palestinian communities.
Farmers regularly face attacks, access restrictions, crop theft and destruction of trees.
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said more than 45,000 trees were cut down or damaged across the West Bank during the first half of 2026, including more than 26,000 olive trees.
Figures released by the commission on Friday showed that Israeli settlers carried out 647 attacks across the West Bank in September, killing three Palestinians.
About 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 194 settlements and 400 settlement outposts across the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.
The United Nations has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law.
Arrests and raids in West Bank
Israeli forces also arrested four Palestinians and raided dozens of homes across the West Bank on Saturday.
Three Palestinians were detained after troops raided their homes in Rafat, west of Salfit, while a young Palestinian was arrested during a separate raid in Tubas, Wafa reported.
Israeli forces searched homes in Burqa, northwest of Nablus, holding dozens of Palestinians for interrogation and mistreating several young men, according to local sources cited by the agency.
About 9,350 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 90 women and 350 children, according to Palestinian prisoner organisations.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces settlers have intensified operations across the West Bank, including killings, arrests, forced displacement, home demolitions, land levelling and settlement expansion.
Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon
In southern Lebanon, Israeli forces demolished a school, set fire to homes and carried out airstrikes and artillery attacks on several towns on Saturday, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.
In Houla, in the Marjayoun district, Israeli forces planted explosives inside a private school and detonated them, destroying the building. Troops also set fire to homes, the agency reported.
Israeli artillery shelled Khiam and repeatedly targeted Tallouseh and Bani Hayyan, where warplanes carried out two airstrikes.
In the Nabatieh district, Israeli aircraft struck Kfar Tibnit in two waves, while the outskirts of Mayfadoun and Zawtar al-Sharqiyah came under “heavy and concentrated” artillery fire.
Israeli forces also carried out large-scale detonations in Aitaroun and Tallouseh.
In the Tyre district, artillery targeted Mansouri and Majdal Zoun. Several large explosions in Mansouri sent white smoke over residential areas, with blasts and tremors felt in Tyre and surrounding villages.
The agency said Israeli forces had previously destroyed most of Mansouri’s public school.
The attacks continued despite a US-sponsored Framework Agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel in Washington on June 26, providing for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from
Lebanese territory and the deployment of the Lebanese army in areas vacated by Israeli forces.
Israel has continued attacks in southern Lebanon and maintains a military presence in parts of the region.
Reported Saudi strikes in Yemen
Separately, Yemen’s Houthi group claimed on Saturday that Saudi aircraft had carried out airstrikes targeting Sanaa and Saada province.
Al-Masirah TV said Saudi aircraft fired missiles at a telecommunications network in Saqain district and at Maran, both in Saada.
Al-Masdar Online reported hearing eight explosions from airstrikes on sites inside Sana’a, accompanied by aircraft overhead.
No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Saudi authorities and the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government had not commented.
The reports followed Ansar Allahi missile attacks targeting Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Civil Defense said early Saturday that shrapnel from an intercepted Ansar Allah ballistic missile injured an Asian national in the southern Asir region.
On Friday, Civil Defense said an Ansar Allah projectile struck a school in Najran, causing property damage but no injuries.
The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles launched by the Ansar Allah towards Khamis Mushait.
On July 20, the Ansar Allah announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, describing it as a response to what they called a Saudi naval and air siege on areas under their control in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Ansar Allah since March 2015. The Ansar Allah have controlled Sana’a and several governorates since September 2014.
[Photo: Illegal Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian-owned vehicles in the Ein Yabrud town near Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine on October 04, 2026. Photojournalist: Issam Rimawi/AA]
