MEDICS REPORT AT LEAST THREE PALESTINIANS KILLED BY ISRAELI FIRE

Israeli fire killed at least three Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to local health officials. An Israeli strike hit a vehicle in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, southwest of Gaza City. Accounts put the number killed in the vehicle at one or two, and medical sources reported several people wounded. Photographs from the scene showed a crowd around the burning wreckage as emergency workers sprayed it with water.

Medics said another strike killed a Palestinian man riding a bike in the southern city of Khan Younis. They said gunfire killed a woman near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Hamas denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal. Hamas also accused Israel of undermining the ceasefire agreement. Negotiators have yet to agree terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.

The US-brokered ceasefire, agreed last year, calls for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza, but little progress has been made. Gaza health officials say Israeli fire has killed at least 1,500 Palestinians in the territory since the ceasefire. Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed during that period. Palestinian authorities say Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 74,000 people. Israel launched the assault after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.