Israeli fire kills 11, including journalists and children, Gaza medics say

CAIRO: Israeli fire killed 11 Palestinians including two boys and three journalists in separate incidents in Gaza on Wednesday, local medics said, in the latest violence to undermine a three-month-old ceasefire in the war-shattered enclave.

Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian journalists travelling in a car on assignment to film a displaced persons camp in central Gaza.

In another incident, medics said three people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed by Israeli tank shelling in central Gaza. Two others, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed in two Israeli shooting incidents in Khan Younis in the south, medics said.

A further three Palestinians were killed in other Israeli attacks across Gaza, bringing the day’s death toll to at least 11, the Gaza health ministry said.

Commenting on the incident involving the journalists, Israel’s military said troops identified “several suspects who operated a drone affiliated with Hamas” in central Gaza.

“Following the identification and due to the threat that the drone posed to the troops, the IDF precisely struck the suspects who activated the drone,” the military said.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said in a statement that the journalists killed “were carrying out a humanitarian, journalistic mission to film and document the suffering of civilians in displacement camps.”

Local journalists said their work was sponsored by the Egyptian Committee, which supervises Egypt’s relief work in Gaza.

An Egyptian security source confirmed the vehicle belonged to the committee but gave no further details.

The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the other incidents.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it has documented 206 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza since the start of the war. The CPJ says Israel has never published the results of a formal investigation or held anyone accountable for killings by its military.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate puts the number killed at more than 260.