Gaza
Olamilekan Abayomi
Israeli strikes have killed 12 people in Gaza since dawn, according to the Gaza Civil Defence agency. The attacks were reportedly in response to Hamas’s alleged violations of the ceasefire agreement. Five people were killed in a strike on a tent sheltering displaced people in Jabalia, northern Gaza, while another five were killed in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. One more person was killed in Israeli shelling in Gaza City ¹ ².
The Gaza health ministry reports that at least 601 people have been killed since the truce began, while Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period. The situation remains volatile, with both sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire agreement.
The civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force, said one strike hit a tent of displaced people in northern Gaza and another targeted an area in the south. The agency also said that one person was killed by Israeli gunfire in Beit Lahia in north Gaza.
Dozens of relatives and mourners gathered at Nasser Hospital, where the bodies of some of those killed were laid out in white shrouds. Men and women stood in prayer ahead of the funeral, facing the corpses in the hospital compound.
The Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals confirmed they had received the bodies of at least seven people. “Israel doesn’t understand ceasefires or truces,” said Osama Abu Askar, who lost his nephew in the Jabalia attack.
He said the people killed there were hit as they slept. A military official said Israeli forces attacked in response to Hamas violating the ceasefire agreement. The violation included an identification of several armed terrorists who took cover under debris east of the yellow line and adjacent to IDF troops.
The situation in Gaza is dire, with media restrictions and limited access preventing news organisations from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
