Gaza officials report five killed, including a child, as Israeli drone and airstrike hit central and southern Gaza despite ongoing ceasefire.
GAZA CITY: Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes killed five people including a child in the Palestinian territory on Monday.
A ceasefire is in place in the Israel-Hamas war, but it has not ended the violence and progress towards a final deal to end the war has stalled.
“Three people were killed and several injured when an Israeli drone struck a group of civilians,” Al-Aqsa Hospital said in a statement, adding that one of the victims was a child aged eight years old.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, which acts as a rescue force under Hamas, said the strike hit an area in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
An Israeli military source confirmed the attack.
“The IDF did carry out a strike targeting jihadi terrorists. The results of the strike are still being assessed,” the source told AFP.
Later on Monday, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported two people killed and more than 27 injured in an Israeli airstrike on a tent on Khan Yunis beach in the south of the territory.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis confirmed receiving the bodies of the dead.
Questioned by AFP about that attack, the Israeli military said that Israeli forces “struck a Hamas terrorist in the Khan Yunis area of the Gaza Strip. The results of the strike are under review.”
It added: “The IDF is aware of the reports regarding casualties in the area as a result of the strike. However, the reported number of casualties does not align with the information available to the IDF.
Israeli forces “make every effort to mitigate harm to civilians”, it said.
At least 1,045 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on October 10 last year, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one contractor.
Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence.
