A Year Into the Ceasefire, Fresh Strains: Israeli Strikes Kill Five in Gaza on Saturday as Abbas Postpones Palestinian Elections to September 2027
A year after the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire took effect, two developments on Saturday, Oct. 10, underscored its fragility — fresh Israeli strikes in Gaza and a formal postponement of Palestinian elections.
Gaza health officials and medics told Reuters that Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in two separate attacks on Saturday: four near Panda Mall in Gaza City and one in the Tuffah neighbourhood. The Israeli military said the strikes targeted militants and gave no further details. Israel has stepped up strikes in recent weeks, saying Hamas is rearming and carrying out attacks in violation of the ceasefire; Hamas denies rebuilding its arsenal and accuses Israel of undermining the truce agreed a year ago. Gaza health officials say at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce, while Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed by militants in the same period. GSM has published an anniversary assessment of the ceasefire; this draft covers Saturday's new developments.
Also on Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree cancelling legislative elections scheduled for November and setting both presidential and legislative elections for Sept. 11, 2027, according to the official WAFA news agency. The decree cited obstacles posed by Israeli measures and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza — including military attacks, settlement expansion, settler violence, movement restrictions, withheld tax revenues, the incomplete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, stalled reconstruction and the absence of arrangements for international stabilisation forces — as preventing free, fair and inclusive elections in November. The postponement followed a PLO executive committee resolution and consultations with Palestinian factions, and was framed as allowing time for national dialogue. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected Abbas's reasoning in a social-media post, noting that the last Palestinian elections were held about two decades ago.
Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-06; Hamas subsequently seized Gaza, and Abbas, whose presidential mandate expired in 2009, has governed by decree since. Municipal elections were held in April in the West Bank and in Deir al-Balah, the only Gaza city to take part and the enclave's first vote since 2006.
What to watch next: whether the ceasefire holds amid frequent strikes, whether the 2027 election date materializes, and the course of negotiations on international stabilization force deployment and reconstruction arrangements.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 白宫作品，公有领域（Wikimedia Commons）
