Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza have killed nine people, including a young girl, according to the territory’s civil defence agency.
KHAN YUNIS: Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Sunday that nine people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south of the Palestinian territory. An official said eight people died when “Israeli strikes hit police posts… in the Al-Mawasi area” on Saturday evening.
Another person was killed on Sunday “after being hit by fire from Israeli forces” at a roundabout in Khan Yunis, official Mohammed al-Mughair told AFP. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that a young girl was among the dead on Saturday night.
AFP images showed bodies being transported from the morgue of Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis. The bodies were then laid out on the ground, wrapped in white shrouds.
During the funerals, one woman was screaming, surrounded by crying men and children. “Each day, the enemy hunts down and kills,” said Ahmed al-Sufi, a Palestinian who had lost family.
Asked about the strikes by AFP, the Israeli military did not immediately respond. It did issue a separate statement saying it had “eliminated” overnight “a cell of 10 armed terrorists from Hamas operating in the centre” of Gaza.
The military also said it killed another person the day before for repeatedly crossing a yellow line behind which Israeli forces have withdrawn. Israel and Hamas continue to accuse each other of violating a ceasefire in place since October 10.
That truce largely halted two years of war in the territory. Israel has continued to strike Gaza, killing at least 702 Palestinians since the start of the ceasefire, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The United Nations considers the ministry’s figures to be reliable. Israel says five of its soldiers have been killed since the start of the truce.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures.
