Children among 11 killed by Israel fire in Gaza: medics
Israeli fire killed at least 11 Palestinians, including two children, in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip, local health officials said.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said four people, including three-year-old Yahya Al-Malahi, were killed in an attack targeting a police vehicle in Gaza City.
It was stated that a police officer was among the dead, and nine people around were injured, some seriously.
A 14-year-old boy named Adam Ahmed Halaa died from Israeli fire in the north of the settlement near Jabalia, health officials and his family said.
The Israeli military had no comment on either incident as of Tuesday local time.
Later in the day, at least five people were killed and many others injured in an Israeli airstrike near a cafe in the Beach camp in western Gaza City, health officials said.
An Israeli military spokesman said the attack targeted a Hamas militant.
Relatives flocked to Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, to bid farewell to the dead.
Muhlis Al-Malahi, carrying his young son in his arms, said that they were leaving a relative’s wedding when the Israeli plane attacked the police vehicle.
The father, whose shirt was stained with his son’s blood, told Reuters: “We approached Timraz intersection via Nafaq (street); then suddenly we saw something hit us. While we were walking, they hit a police car.”
Hader Al-Malahi, the young boy’s cousin, shouted: “What is his crime? What is his crime? He should have worn a suit at his cousin’s wedding today, but instead he wore a blood-stained shroud.”
In northern Gaza, the Israeli army announced that it killed a man who approached the ceasefire line with Hamas, identifying him as an armed militant.
Health officials confirmed that a man was killed in the area, without providing details.
The ceasefire, which began in October, halted two years of full-scale war but allowed Israeli troops to retain control of a sparsely populated area that makes up more than half of Gaza; Hamas was in power on the remaining narrow coastal strip.
Officials of the group in Gaza told Reuters that Israel had increased its attacks on Hamas-led police and security forces since October, killing dozens of people, and accused Israel of trying to create chaos and anarchy.
Israel says it aims to thwart attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire agreement came into force, while militants also killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hamas exchanged blame for ceasefire violations.
Palestinians also say Israeli forces are expanding the territory they occupy. Israel denies this.
