Deir-al-Balah: Israeli forces struck a tent sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza Strip Monday, killing at least three Palestinians, including an 8-year-old boy and his grandfather, medical officials said.
Health authorities in the coastal enclave said the drone strike hit a neighbourhood in Deir al-Balah, one of the least damaged towns in central Gaza.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the fatalities were Hassan al-Hanagra and his 8-year-old grandchild, Malik Abu Shawish, along with another man. Abu Shawish, whose parents are divorced, was visiting his mother’s tent at the time of the strike, and his mother was among seven people wounded in the strike, hospital officials said.
Israel’s military said the strike was targeting a militant, but did not immediately name him or say if he was killed.
A strike in southern Gaza Sunday killed Zaher Abu Salem, the Israeli military said, describing him as a member of Islamic Jihad who was involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war. A total of four people were killed Sunday in a flurry of strikes around Gaza, including a 13-year-old girl, Eileen al-Farra, who was hit by shrapnel from Israeli tank shelling and was buried Monday.
While the heaviest fighting has subsided since a ceasefire took hold in October, Israeli forces have carried out near-daily strikes, killing 1,045 Palestinians, including more than 360 women and children, according to health officials in Gaza. Israel says it is targeting militants, often saying they were planning attacks on Israeli troops who hold more than 60 per cent of the Gaza Strip. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks since the ceasefire.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,058 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Palestinian teen killed near Ramallah
Meanwhile, Israeli forces raided locations throughout the occupied West Bank, including near Ramallah, where the Palestinian Health Ministry reported a 15-year-old from Jerusalem was killed by a gunshot to the head.
Emergency crews transported Amir Jaber to the hospital from the al-Bireh area after attempting to resuscitate him at the scene, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. It also reported two injured by Israeli fire in a raid near Hebron, the West Bank’s most populous city.
The Israeli military did not comment immediately.
The raid near Ramallah – the Palestinians’ administrative capital in the West Bank – was among half a dozen throughout the territory reported by WAFA, the Palestinian news agency Monday.
At least 59 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank this year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last week.
