Israeli strikes kill 12 in Gaza, with both sides accusing the other of violating a US-brokered truce, as violence continues in the Palestinian territory.
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people since dawn on Sunday. A military official said the attacks were in response to ceasefire violations.
Despite a US-brokered truce that entered its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Palestinian territory. Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for violating the agreement.
The civil defence agency said one strike hit a tent of displaced people in northern Gaza. Another targeted an area in the south.
Five people were killed and several injured when an air strike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people in Jabalia. “Israel doesn’t understand ceasefires or truces,” said Osama Abu Askar, who lost his nephew in the attack.
He said the people killed there were hit as they slept. “We’ve been living under a truce for months, and they’ve still targeted us,” Askar told AFP.
Five more were killed and several injured in a separate early morning strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis. The agency also said that one more was killed in Israeli shelling in Gaza City.
One person was killed by Israeli gunfire in Beit Lahia in north Gaza. The Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals confirmed they had received the bodies of at least seven people.
Dozens of relatives and mourners gathered at Nasser Hospital for funeral prayers. Men and women stood in prayer ahead of the funeral, facing the corpses in the hospital compound.
A military official said Israeli forces attacked in response to Hamas violations of the ceasefire agreement. “Crossing the yellow line in the vicinity of IDF troops, while armed, is an explicit ceasefire violation,” the official added.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israeli troops withdrew to positions behind a so-called “Yellow Line”. They remain in control of more than half of the Palestinian territory.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem accused the Israeli military of violating the ceasefire. “Targeting of displaced people in their tents is a serious violation,” Qassem said.
Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 601 people have been killed since the truce began. The Israeli military says at least four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.
Media restrictions and limited access to Gaza have prevented independent verification of casualty figures.