Two separate Israeli airstrikes killed five Palestinians and wounded more than 13 others in Gaza City on Monday, striking the entrance of a residential building and a vehicle on a crowded commercial street, according to a medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital and eyewitnesses who spoke to Al Manassa.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the medical source stated that the extreme force of the explosions dismembered most of those killed, while shrapnel wounded several others. Paramedics transferred the injured to nearby hospitals for treatment.
In one attack, an Israeli reconnaissance drone launched a single missile at a civilian car driving through the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in southwestern Gaza City. The strike killed three men inside the vehicle and wounded several bystanders.
Israeli military forces target a civilian car, killing three young men west of Gaza City on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026.An eyewitness told Al Manassa that the strike occurred while the area was densely populated with pedestrians and busy with local shops, a bakery, and informal eateries.
“The street was crowded, and suddenly an explosion went off, sending shrapnel flying everywhere,” the witness said.
The witness noted that the sudden strike scattered body parts around the vehicle, severing one victim's body in half and decapitating another.
“Strikes and shelling happen every day,” the witness added. “Just two days ago, on the street opposite this car bombing, an attack targeted two young men. Bombings continue in other areas while people talk to us about a truce. Where is this truce when we face death at any moment?”
Prior to the vehicle strike, an Israeli missile struck the entrance of a residential building in the Sabra neighborhood of central Gaza City. The attack killed two young men who were about to leave the building, according to a second witness speaking to Al Manassa.
The second witness stated that the Israeli military issued no advance warning to the building’s residents or to displaced persons staying in tents opposite the site. The blast injured several pedestrians, including children, a detail corroborated by the medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital.
In a statement released on WhatsApp, the Gaza interior ministry eulogized two of the victims: Maj. Omar Al-Sarraj, who died in the Sabra residential building strike, and Capt. Talal Badawi, who died in the vehicle strike alongside a third individual.
A source from the Badawi family told Al Manassa that Talal had survived three previous assassination attempts. The source added that an occupation-backed militia carried out a fourth attempt several weeks ago in the Zeytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, where a group stormed a shop and attempted to assassinate Badawi using a sound pistol before the attempt failed.
In an official statement published on WhatsApp, the Israeli military said it targeted a “commander in Hamas’s supply and maintenance department,” acknowledging the strike against two individuals in the Sabra neighborhood.
The Israeli military identified one of the deceased as Omar Al-Sarraj, describing him as a “leader in Hamas’s supply unit,” and identified the second victim as a member of Hamas’s military wing without providing his name.
The military accused both men of participating in the planning of attacks against Israeli soldiers in recent weeks and working to rebuild the group’s operational capabilities.
Meanwhile, Hamas described the intensified Israeli shelling and gunfire across the Gaza Strip as an ongoing conflict rather than isolated incidents.
In a statement posted on Telegram, Hamas accused Israeli forces of continuing to demolish residential blocks behind the “Yellow Line” in areas under Israeli control, firing toward tents housing displaced civilians, and opening fire on fishermen off the coast at dawn on Monday.
Hamas characterized the deaths of the five Palestinians in Gaza City as a “systematic fascist escalation” by the Israel, saying it demonstrates a continuation of military action and a failure to abide by ceasefire commitments.
The group renewed its call for international mediators and agreement guarantors to address actions against civilians and to pressure the Israeli government to halt attacks and adhere to the ceasefire.
