Deadly air strikes and attacks despite Gaza ceasefire
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Israel has killed at least two Palestinians including a girl and injured four others including other children in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip, officials at the city’s main Nasser Hospital say.
The Israeli military said the strike carried out on Monday in Khan Younis, an area controlled by Hamas, had targeted a Hamas militant who was planning to attack Israeli troops in southern Gaza.
Israel has carried out repeated air strikes in Gaza since a US-brokered deal took effect in October that halted most fighting. Israel says its strikes are aimed at preventing attacks or destroying militant infrastructure.
Gaza’s health ministry says 422 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect. Gaza militants have killed three Israeli soldiers during the same period.
Under the first phase of the deal, brokered by US President Donald Trump, Israel has retained control of 53 per cent of Gaza. Hamas agreed to release living hostages and hand over remains in exchange for the freeing of Palestinians detained by Israel.
The final hostage remains still to be handed over belong to an Israeli police officer killed on October 7, 2023 – the day Gazan militants invaded Israel, killing 1200 and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to local health authorities.
Most of the territory is in ruins, with the population of more than two million living mainly in makeshift homes or damaged buildings in areas where Israeli forces withdrew.
Earlier on Monday, a father and son in Gaza were killed in the collapse of their house which had been damaged in an earlier Israeli strike, authorities in Gaza said.
Reuters
