Authors: Nidal Mughrabi and Jana Jokere
CAIRO/DUBAI (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians in two separate attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, hours after the military said it had hit the site of failed rocket launches by militants, the latest violence to threaten a ceasefire.
An Israeli airstrike killed at least three people and wounded three others, including children, in a tent in the western district of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said. Another attack killed one person east of the city, near where Israeli forces were operating.
Israel had no immediate comment on reports of the deaths.
Earlier, the military said it attacked a launch site shortly after launching a rocket that failed to reach Israeli territory. It accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire twice in the past 24 hours. A source in the Palestinian militant group told Reuters they were verifying the allegation.
The ceasefire agreed in October has not advanced beyond the first phase, in which major fighting ceased, Israel withdrew less than half its personnel from Gaza and Hamas militants released live hostages and bodies in exchange for detained Palestinians.
In future phases that have yet to be finalized, U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan envisions the disarmament of Hamas, further Israeli troop withdrawals and the rebuilding of Gaza by an internationally-backed government.
But next steps made little progress. More than 400 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect, and Gaza’s more than 2 million people now live almost entirely in makeshift homes or damaged buildings in a sliver of territory that Israeli forces have withdrawn and Hamas has regained control of.
Israel is awaiting the handover of the final institutions as the initial phase of the truce expires. An Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not enter the next phase of a ceasefire until Hamas returns the remains of the last Israeli hostage still in Gaza.
Israel has not yet opened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, another condition of the U.S.-backed plan, and has said it will only do so after the remains are returned.
Ceasefire looks fragile
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of serious ceasefire violations and remain far apart over the more difficult steps envisaged in the next phase.
Israel continues to conduct airstrikes and targeted operations across Gaza. The Israeli military said it viewed any attempt by Gaza armed groups to attack Israel “extremely seriously.”
A Hamas official told Reuters on Thursday that the group had documented more than 1,100 Israeli ceasefire violations since October and urged mediators to intervene. He said the violations included killings, injuries, shelling and airstrikes, demolition of houses and detention of people.
Hamas has refused to disarm and has been reasserting its control. Israel says it will resume military operations if Hamas does not disarm peacefully.
According to Israeli data, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 people in an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then, more than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive on Gaza, according to the region’s health ministry.
(Reporting by Jana Choukeir in Dubai and Nidal al Mughrbai in Cairo; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Gareth Jones and Peter Graff)
