At least 12 Palestinians killed and more injured in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes | Gaza
At least 12 Palestinians were killed and scores injured in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes that the military said were carried out in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said five people were killed and scores injured in an airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people in the northern city of Jabalia.
A separate early morning attack in the southern city of Khan Younis killed five more people and injured several others, according to the agency, which operates as a rescue force affiliated with Hamas authorities. It was stated that one more person was killed after the Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, and one person was killed as a result of the fire opened by Israel in Beit Lahia.
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hazem Kasim, accused Israel of committing a new “massacre” of displaced Palestinians, calling it a serious violation of the ceasefire days before the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Peace Board.
Violence continues in Palestinian territory despite the US-brokered ceasefire, which entered its second phase last month; Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the agreement. Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals confirmed that they had received the bodies of at least seven people.
“Israel does not understand ceasefires or ceasefires,” Osama Abu Askar, who lost his nephew in the Jabalia attack, told Agence France-Presse. He said that those killed there were shot while they were sleeping.
“We have been living under ceasefire for months and they are still targeting us. Israel acts on this principle; it says one thing and does another,” Askar added.
Dozens of relatives and mourners gathered at Nasser hospital, where the bodies of some of those killed were laid out in white shrouds. Men and women prayed before the funeral, facing the bodies in the hospital compound.
Israeli forces attacked in response to Hamas’ violation of the ceasefire agreement, a military official said. According to the terms of the agreement that came into force on October 10, Israeli soldiers withdrew to positions called the “yellow line”, although they retained control of more than half of the Palestinian territory.
“The breach involved the identification of multiple armed terrorists hiding under rubble east of the yellow line and adjacent to IDF troops, presumably after emerging from underground infrastructure in the area,” the official said.
“Crossing the yellow line while armed near IDF troops is a clear ceasefire violation and demonstrates how Hamas is systematically violating the ceasefire agreement with the intention of harming troops,” the official added.
Although Israel’s withdrawal was part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel unilaterally moved the yellow line deeper into Gaza, and Hamas has so far rejected demands for disarmament envisaged in the plan. Israel said that if it did not do so, it would be forced to force Hamas to disarm.
Gaza Ministry of Health announced that at least 601 people have been killed since the ceasefire began. The Israeli army announced that at least four of its soldiers were killed in the same period.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
