JERUSALEM — Israeli troops fired a mortar shell Wednesday into a residential area of Gaza City, wounding at least 10 people, Palestinian health officials said, and Israel’s military said it was investigating. The army said the shell was fired during an operation near the deal’s “Yellow Line” but “veered from its intended target,” straining the Gaza ceasefire as Phase 2 talks and aid commitments remain in limbo, Dec. 17, 2025.
Gaza ceasefire frays near the “Yellow Line”
Fadel Naeem, director of Al-Ahli Hospital, said 10 wounded people arrived after the blast, some in critical condition, according to the Associated Press. The military said the “Yellow Line” — created in the ceasefire deal — separates Israeli-held parts of Gaza from the rest of the strip.
Since the Gaza ceasefire took effect Oct. 10, Palestinian health officials have reported more than 370 deaths from Israeli fire. Israel says it has shot at people it describes as militants violating the agreement; an Israeli military official told the AP the army is aware of incidents in which civilians, including children, were killed.
Gaza ceasefire aid pipeline under strain
The United Nations and more than 200 aid organizations warned this week that Gaza operations could collapse if Israel does not lift impediments, including a “vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized” registration process that could de-register dozens of international groups by Dec. 31, Reuters reported.
Aid groups said essential supplies — food, medical items, hygiene materials and shelter assistance — remain stuck outside Gaza. In its overview of the first month of the October ceasefire, the U.N. humanitarian office for the occupied Palestinian territory said the Gaza ceasefire envisioned an immediate scale-up of assistance, including equipment to repair hospitals and bakeries and to clear rubble and reopen roads, according to an OCHA report.
Phase 2 remains stalled
Phase 2 is supposed to include an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, Hamas disarmament and further Israeli troop withdrawals — steps still tied to unresolved hostage and border-crossing issues. Israel has demanded the return of the remaining hostage’s body — identified by the AP as Ran Gvili — before moving forward.
At the Doha Forum earlier this month, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, called the Gaza ceasefire a “critical moment” and said, “What we have just done is a pause,” as mediators work “to force the way forward” to Phase 2, according to an AP report carried by CBS News.
The present strains echo earlier aid disruptions: Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks during a March 2025 ceasefire dispute, and in June 2025 a U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid group halted distribution for a time because overcrowding made operations unsafe, according to a March 2025 Reuters report and a June 2025 Reuters report.
For Gaza’s families, the Gaza ceasefire has reduced the scale of combat but not the grind of hunger, illness and winter exposure — and each new strike raises the risk that the fragile pause will not hold.
