Gaza civil defence says Israeli attacks kill 13 including 5 children

Gaza City: Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children, despite a ceasefire that has largely halted the fighting.

Four people including three children were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, an 11-year-old girl was killed near the Jabalia refugee camp and a strike on a school killed one person, while a drone near Khan Yunis in the south killed a man, the agency added.

Two more Gazans, including a child, were killed in other attacks, reported the agency, which operates under Hamas authority.

When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the reports.

Later on Thursday evening, four more people were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in an eastern area of Gaza City, Bassal said, adding that rescue work to search for several people who were missing had begun.

“The death toll has risen to 13 as a result of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since this morning in a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement,” Bassal said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said a projectile was launched “from the area of Gaza City toward the State of Israel” but that it fell within the Gaza Strip.

“Shortly after, the (military) precisely struck the launch point,” it said in a statement.

Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent ceasefire violations.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that the strikes in Gaza on Thursday “confirm the Israeli occupation’s renunciation of its commitment to the ceasefire”.

Israeli forces have killed at least 425 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

At least 21 people were killed on November 22 in Israeli strikes, making it one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect.

The Israeli military said militants have killed three of its soldiers during the same period.