Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill four

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency and two hospitals said Israeli attacks on Thursday killed four people across the Palestinian territory, including two children.

A ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, but it has not halted the violence in Gaza, and efforts to secure a lasting agreement to end the war have stalled.

Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP that “four martyrs, including two children, and a number of wounded were transported following Israeli airstrikes” across the Gaza Strip.

One Palestinian was killed and 10 others were wounded in an airstrike near a camp for displaced people next to Gaza City’s Yarmouk Stadium, according to the civil defence agency.

In a separate incident, Nasser Hospital, in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis, told AFP that its emergency service had received two people including an eight-year-old girl, as well as three wounded.

The casualties came after “an Israeli helicopter strike targeted the tent of the Balawi family west of Khan Younis,” the hospital said.

Tens of thousands of people in Gaza still live in tents, after nearly three years of Israeli airstrikes destroyed much of the Palestinian territory’s standing structures.

The emergency department at Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza reported “the arrival of a child martyr and a number of wounded” after an airstrike hit an apartment near the municipality building in the nearby Bureij refugee camp.

Israel’s military did not confirm any individual attack, but told AFP that “the IDF struck several Hamas terror infrastructure overnight” Thursday.

The air strikes come as a Hamas delegation holds talks in Cairo with Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish mediators aimed at consolidating the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian group, according to two sources familiar with the talks who spoke to AFP.

Since the fragile truce came into effect last October, Israel has continued carrying out near-daily air and artillery strikes across the territory, more than 60 percent of which it controls.

Since the ceasefire agreement was announced, at least 1,214 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.

The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor.

Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence there.