Israeli strikes kill two in Gaza, destroy medicine storage warehouses

Israel’s military on Saturday killed two Palestinians in Gaza and destroyed two ‌warehouses near a hospital that were said to be storing medicine in separate strikes, amid uncertainty over whether Israel has accepted a deal reached with Hamas over the group’s disarmament.

Palestinian health officials said two Palestinians were killed in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City in central Gaza in an Israeli air strike.

In an earlier incident, an Israeli air strike destroyed two warehouses that were used to store medicine by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah ​in southern Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said in a statement.

Reuters footage of the Deir al-Balah strike showed a crater several metres wide marking the site of the explosion, with debris strewn across the area, including what appeared to be medical supplies, close to a densely packed tent encampment.

Two other warehouses storing medicine and the hospital’s outpatient clinic were damaged in the strike, the ​Palestinian Health Ministry said. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

The hospital said the warehouses had stored essential medical supplies used to treat kidney failure patients ​undergoing dialysis, along with other materials like gauze used in wound care and routine treatment.

“The Israeli occupation has committed a heinous crime,” Khalil al-Daqran, a doctor at the hospital, said of the ‌strike.

“In the ⁠middle of the night, (the military) targeted a warehouse containing medical supplies for the hospital, and the occupation completely destroyed it,” he told Reuters.

Witnesses said the military had issued an evacuation warning for the area before carrying out the Deir al-Balah strike.

Hospitals and other civilian sites are protected under international humanitarian law, although that protection can be lost if they are used for military purposes. Israel’s military says Hamas and other armed groups operate from within civilian areas and facilities, including hospitals.

Fatima Sharab, a displaced Palestinian living ​in a tent near the warehouses, said ​many people in need of medical ⁠care had been sheltering in the area to be close to the hospital.

Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Gaza since agreeing last October to a U.S.-mediated ceasefire, killing 1,222 Palestinians in the past nine months. Palestinian health officials say many of ​those killed were women and children. Hamas rarely announces its casualties.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said there had been ​a breakthrough in his ⁠plan to end the war, which both Israel and Hamas agreed to last year and which started with the ceasefire.

Trump said that Hamas, which ruled Gaza for nearly two decades had agreed to lay down its weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is yet to comment publicly, while ⁠his National ​Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called the agreement unacceptable and said that Israel must continue to carry ​out its policy of assassinating Hamas leaders.

Trump’s Board of Peace, established to implement his plan for ending the Gaza war, released a roadmap on Thursday outlining the final steps for carrying out the initiative. The ​document states that Israel will cease military operations as part of its commitment to Trump’s 20-point plan, which it signed last year.