Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in Gaza, farmer also shot dead

CAIRO: Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.

Israel military claimed that they were killed after they emerged from an underground tunnel and opened fire on troops.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas, but some sources close to the group identified one of those killed as Anas Annashar, the son of senior Hamas official and co-founder Issa Annashar.

Israel has responded to similar incidents in recent months by carrying out airstrikes across the enclave in which dozens of people have been killed.

Later on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in an apartment in Gaza City, north of the enclave, health officials said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, but a security official told Reuters the Israeli army was “striking in retaliation for Hamas’ breaking of the ceasefire”.

Dozens of Hamas fighters have been trapped in tunnels under Rafah since the ceasefire, and some have since been killed in clashes with Israeli forces.

In a separate incident, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian farmer in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities.

Israel did not immediately comment on the incident.

Violence has repeatedly shaken the ceasefire and the two sides have traded blame over truce violations as Washington presses them to proceed to the next phases of the ceasefire deal, meant to end the conflict for good.

The next phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan calls for resolving complex issues such as Hamas disarmament, which the group has long rejected, a further Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

The Gaza health ministry said at least 580 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire deal was agreed. Israel says four soldiers had been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported the death toll rose to at least 15 at the end of rescue operations, citing the civil defense chief.

The Gaza war started with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza now exceeds 71,000, according to Palestinian health ministry data.