Israeli strikes destroy central Gaza homes despite truce
Israeli strikes hit Maghazi and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on 12 June, with residents saying evacuation orders preceded attacks that left homes flattened and displaced families searching rubble for possessions. Residents said 10 to 15 homes in Maghazi were no longer habitable, while people in Deir al-Balah tried to recover usable items from collapsed buildings. The Israeli military has not publicly detailed the specific central Gaza strikes reviewed for this brief. The episode fits a wider pattern since the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire: Gaza's Health Ministry says Israeli operations have killed hundreds of Palestinians since the truce began, while Israel says its strikes respond to ceasefire violations or threats to troops. Nickolay Mladenov, the diplomat overseeing the US-backed plan, said the deadlock over Hamas disarmament has frozen reconstruction and Israeli withdrawal, leaving Gaza's civilians trapped between ceasefire diplomacy and continuing violence.
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About this story
Maghazi (a Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza, established in 1949 in the Deir al-Balah Governorate) has repeatedly sheltered displaced families during the war. Deir al-Balah (a central Gaza city and governorate on the coastal road) became a major displacement and aid hub as fighting moved across the territory. The Gaza Strip (a 365-square-kilometre Palestinian coastal enclave) has been under severe wartime destruction since the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel and Israel's military campaign that followed. Hamas (the Palestinian Islamist movement governing Gaza before and during the war) remains central to ceasefire talks because the US-backed plan requires its disarmament. Nickolay Mladenov (a Bulgarian former UN Middle East envoy now overseeing the Gaza ceasefire framework) has become the public face of the stalled implementation process. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 (adopted on 17 November 2025) endorsed the Gaza peace plan and authorized an International Stabilization Force.
How to read this story
The history
The Gaza war began after Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which Israeli authorities say about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. A first temporary pause started on 24 November 2023 and collapsed on 1 December 2023 after hostage-prisoner exchanges. The current ceasefire began on 10 October 2025 after a US-backed plan and was later endorsed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 on 17 November 2025. The plan linked Israeli withdrawals, Hamas disarmament, transitional Palestinian governance, an international stabilization force and reconstruction, but implementation has stalled.
The geopolitics
Gaza remains a test of US leverage, Israeli security doctrine, Hamas's survival strategy and European credibility on international law. The ceasefire framework depends on a sequence few actors trust: Hamas must disarm, Israel must withdraw, international forces must deploy and donors must fund reconstruction. Each new strike makes that sequence politically harder.
Why now
The 12 June images are timely because they show fresh damage during a truce that is supposed to remain in force. They follow weeks of reporting that the ceasefire has stalled, Israeli operations have continued and reconstruction has not meaningfully begun.
What to watch
Watch for an Israeli military explanation of the 12 June central Gaza strikes, Gaza hospital or civil-defence casualty updates, UN humanitarian access reports, and any Board of Peace or mediator statement on whether reconstruction and withdrawal talks can restart.
Regional impact
The effects split between Belgium's federal level and the EU level. Belgium's federal government handles recognition, sanctions, arms-export positions and consular policy, while EU institutions and member states determine whether broader tools such as the EU-Israel Association Agreement, settlement trade measures or humanitarian funding rules change. Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels may feel the issue through protests, universities and community relations, but those are political and social spillovers rather than distinct regional policy competences in this specific event.
International angle
The event sits inside the wider failure of the US-backed and UN-endorsed Gaza ceasefire to move into reconstruction. It also touches EU foreign policy because member states remain divided over whether to use trade, sanctions or association-agreement tools against Israel, while Brussels-based institutions are central to any collective European response.
What this means for you
Belgian readers should expect Gaza to remain active in EU and Belgian politics: humanitarian aid debates, university and civil-society campaigns, sanctions arguments and community-security concerns are likely to continue. For people donating or engaging politically, the practical issue is to rely on verified humanitarian organisations and distinguish Gaza-wide policy claims from unconfirmed strike details.
What happens next
The next steps depend less on the single strike than on whether ceasefire monitors can revive the stalled sequence: Hamas disarmament, Israeli pullback, transitional Palestinian governance and reconstruction access. Further Israeli military statements, hospital casualty updates, UN humanitarian reporting and talks involving the Board of Peace could clarify whether the 12 June attacks remain isolated damage or signal renewed escalation.
Potential consequences
If strikes continue without visible progress on reconstruction, Gaza's displaced families could face deeper shelter, health and sanitation risks before any political settlement takes hold. Diplomatically, repeated incidents could increase pressure inside the EU for tougher measures against Israel, while also hardening Israeli arguments that Hamas remains armed and active. For Belgium, the likely consequence is more tension between humanitarian-law commitments, coalition politics, community relations and EU consensus-building.
Opposing perspectives
- Israel's military and government
Israel's position, reflected in military statements on recent Gaza strikes, is that operations target militants or threats to Israeli troops and respond to ceasefire violations. This frame treats continuing fire as enforcement of a fragile truce rather than abandonment of it, and places responsibility on Hamas for operating in civilian areas and refusing disarmament.
- Palestinian civilians and humanitarian agencies
Residents and humanitarian agencies frame the same pattern as a ceasefire that exists largely on paper for civilians. Their strongest argument is that evacuation orders, repeated displacement, destroyed homes and blocked reconstruction make the truce meaningless for families who cannot return, rebuild or recover basic possessions.
- US-backed ceasefire monitors
Nickolay Mladenov's frame is institutional: the ceasefire has prevented a return to full-scale war, but the plan cannot move from emergency pause to reconstruction while Hamas disarmament, Israeli withdrawal and transitional governance remain locked together. This view sees the central failure as implementation paralysis.
- Belgian and pro-sanctions EU voices
Belgian and other pro-sanctions EU voices argue that repeated civilian harm and stalled reconstruction test Europe's credibility on international law. Their case is that diplomatic concern is insufficient if the EU-Israel relationship, settlement trade and arms-related measures remain largely intact despite continuing violence.
Timeline
- 2023-10-07·Hamas-led attackers killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
- 2023-11-24·A first temporary Gaza truce began, enabling hostage-prisoner exchanges and additional aid.
- 2023-12-01·The first temporary truce collapsed after both sides accused the other of violations.
- 2025-10-10·The US-backed Gaza ceasefire came into effect with Israeli withdrawal to agreed lines.
- 2025-11-17·United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 endorsed the Gaza peace plan and authorized an International Stabilization Force.
- 2026-05-13·Nickolay Mladenov said the ceasefire was stalled over Hamas disarmament and reconstruction remained blocked.
- 2026-06-12·Residents said Israeli strikes damaged homes in Maghazi and Deir al-Balah.
Glossary
- EU-Israel Association Agreement
- The treaty framework governing political dialogue and preferential trade between the European Union and Israel; suspending parts of it would require EU member-state agreement.
- International Stabilization Force
- A UN-authorized multinational force envisioned by Resolution 2803 to support security, demilitarization, humanitarian corridors and Palestinian policing in Gaza.
- Board of Peace
- The US-backed oversight body created under the Gaza peace plan to coordinate implementation, transitional governance and reconstruction.
- Yellow Line
- The ceasefire demarcation line separating Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza from Palestinian-controlled areas under the October 2025 plan.
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This briefing was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by a Belgium Impulse editor before publication. methodology.