Israeli strikes in Gaza kill five, including children
Nidal al-Mughrabi |
Israeli air strikes have killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas armed commander, in northern and southern Gaza, health officials and Hamas sources say.
Israeli strikes on a vehicle killed at least two Palestinians, one a child, and wounded seven others in what appeared to be a double tap strike in the northern Gaza Strip neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan, according to medics.
The Israeli military said it had struck a militant in the area on Tuesday, without elaborating.
Witnesses said some of the casualties resulted from a second strike that hit near a group of people who rushed to help in the rescue.
A video, that wasn’t immediately verified by Reuters, showed a missile exploding near at least five men.
In a separate incident, British health charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said a patient was killed at a health centre it supports in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.
The organisation said the patient was shot by an Israeli military quadcopter drone. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
A separate Israeli air strike at a tent encampment in the Mawasi area in Khan Younis killed two people, a man and an eight-year-old girl, and wounded 14 people, according to medical staff.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas commander in the Rafah Brigade, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.
Hamas sources said a senior commander of the group, Nael Abu Obeid, was killed in the strike.
Palestinians earlier held funerals in Gaza for two people who were killed by Israeli strikes a day ago, Ahmed Al-Batsh and Rafat Zummar.
Batsh was a local Hamas commander, according to Hamas sources and the Israeli military. Medics said Batsh died in an attack on his vehicle in northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said in separate statements that it had killed both men, and it described Zummar also as a Hamas commander.
Hamas didn’t immediately comment on Zummar’s affiliation.
Relatives and friends paid farewell to Batsh’s body draped in a white shroud and a Hamas green flag inside Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital. An M16 assault rifle was placed on top of the body.
“Israel thinks… it will eliminate the resistance and the spirit of jihad (devotion) within us,” said Khalil Al-Batsh, a relative of the dead Hamas militant, of the killing.
“I tell them that this cowardly operation only strengthens our people’s determination to continue on this path,” he told Reuters at the funeral.
An October 2025, US-backed, ceasefire halted large-scale fighting in Gaza, but it has not ended Israeli strikes and there has been little progress on steps towards permanent peace.
Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement US President Donald Trump’s broader plan to end the Gaza conflict, which includes the Israeli withdrawal from the strip and the disarmament of Hamas.
Israel says Hamas has been violating the deal.
More than 1300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.
Hamas does not usually disclose information about fatalities among its fighters.
Reuters