Israeli Strikes Kill Four in Gaza Despite Ceasefire, Medics Say
GAZA CITY-Israeli airstrikes killed at least four Palestinians, including two children, across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Gaza’s civil defense agency and hospital officials said, underscoring continued violence despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and ongoing diplomatic efforts to preserve the truce.
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said four people were killed and several others wounded in a series of Israeli strikes across the territory. The reported fatalities included two children, according to the agency.
One Palestinian was killed and 10 others were injured in an airstrike near a camp for displaced people beside Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City, the civil defense agency said.
In southern Gaza, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received the bodies of two people, including an eight-year-old girl, along with three injured people after what it described as an Israeli helicopter strike on a tent sheltering the Balawi family west of the city.
In central Gaza, the emergency department of Al-Aqsa Hospital reported the arrival of a child killed in an airstrike on an apartment near the municipal building in the Bureij refugee camp. The hospital said several other people were wounded in the attack.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians remain displaced in temporary tents across Gaza after nearly three years of conflict destroyed large parts of the territory’s residential infrastructure.
The Israeli military did not confirm the individual incidents reported by Gaza authorities. In response to AFP, the military said it had struck several Hamas infrastructure sites overnight on Thursday.
The latest strikes came as a Hamas delegation held talks in Cairo with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators aimed at reinforcing the existing ceasefire agreement, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.
Although the ceasefire took effect last October, hostilities have continued across Gaza. Israeli forces have carried out near-daily air and artillery strikes in the territory, more than 60% of which remains under Israeli control.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 1,214 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire was announced. The United Nations has previously said the ministry’s casualty figures are generally considered reliable.
The Israeli military says five of its soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Gaza during the same period.
Restrictions on media access and movement within Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or conducting unrestricted reporting from the territory.
