Israeli strikes hit Gaza after failed rocket launch
While US President Donald Trump is expected to announce the Peace Board that will oversee the fragile ceasefire, at least 13 people died in Israel’s attacks in Gaza, according to health officials.
At least one child was among those killed following multiple attacks in eastern Gaza City and northern Gaza, health officials and family members said.
The Israeli military said on Friday it struck Hamas infrastructure and fighters in the south and north of Gaza in response to an unsuccessful projectile launched by militants from the Gaza City area.
A phased ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is still in its early stages as efforts to rescue the remains of Gaza’s last hostage continue.
Officials say that Trump is expected to announce the Peace Board, which he said he will chair, next week, and that this is an important step for the Middle East peace plan.
The process has moved slowly since October’s ceasefire ended more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The U.S. official and another official spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov would be appointed as the board’s “designated” director general.
Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as the UN envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the UN Middle East peace envoy from 2015 to 2020.
During this time he had good working relations with Israel and often worked to reduce tensions between Israel and Hamas.
Under Trump’s plan, the panel would oversee the new technocratic Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of the international security force, the additional withdrawal of Israeli troops and reconstruction.
The United States has so far reported little progress on any of these fronts.
On Thursday, Egyptian and European Union leaders met in Cairo and called for the deployment of an international stabilization force.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Hamas still refused to disarm and described the situation as “extremely serious”.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the ceasefire that has been in place for nearly three months.
Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza has killed more than 400 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
The Israeli military says all actions taken since the ceasefire began are in response to violations of the agreement.
An 11-year-old girl, a teenage girl and two boys were killed and at least a dozen people were injured at the tent camp in Thursday’s attacks, authorities said.
