Israeli fire killed at least nine Palestinians, including a child, across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local health officials, as violence continued despite a months old ceasefire, according to Arab News.
In Gaza City, an airstrike hit an apartment building in the Sabra neighborhood, killing four people two women and a child among them. The blast reduced parts of the building to rubble and left several others wounded. The Israeli military said it had targeted a militant but provided no further details.
Further north, in Beit Lahiya, medics said Israeli forces shot and killed a woman. In the south, an airstrike in Khan Younis killed one person and injured eight others. Later in the day, another strike hit the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people, including a local photographer.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on these incidents. Although a ceasefire agreed in October brought an end to large-scale fighting, smaller attacks have continued. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 1,010 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce began. During the same period, militants have killed four Israeli soldiers.
Israel says its strikes are meant to prevent imminent attacks by Hamas and other armed groups. Hamas, for its part, rarely provides details about casualties among its fighters.
Efforts to move forward with a broader peace plan have stalled. Talks involving Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, and US envoy Nickolay Mladenov have yet to produce agreement on the next phase of former US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal. The plan calls for Hamas to disarm and for Israeli forces to withdraw, but both sides remain divided.
Hamas insists disarmament must be tied to steps toward a Palestinian state, while Israel demands the group give up power entirely.
The war began after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then, Gaza’s health ministry says more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed.
