Israeli fire kills four in Gaza, casting further doubt on ceasefire

Cairo/Gaza: Israeli airstrikes killed four people and wounded 18 others in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said, as Hamas and Israel accused each other of violating a near six-week-old, US-brokered ceasefire.

Medics said that one strike on a house in Bani Suhaila town east of Khan Younis killed three people, including a baby girl and wounded 15 others, while another killed a man and wounded three others in the nearby Abassan town.

Israel's military confirmed the strikes but said it was not aware of casualties.

On Wednesday, Israel said it struck targets across the enclave after members of the Palestinian militant group fired on its troops, and Gaza medics said at least 25 people were killed.

Hamas called the attacks a dangerous escalation and urged Arab mediators, Turkey and the United States to intervene.

Ceasefire eases conflict but attacks continue

In Gaza City's Zeitoun suburb, where at least 10 people were killed in a building that used to house displaced families on Wednesday, Palestinians sifted through the wreckage to salvage furniture and belongings as rescue workers searched for any further victims.

"They say there is a ceasefire but I doubt this. Day by day, they say there is a ceasefire, this is completely untrue," Zeitoun resident Akram Iswair said on Thursday.

"Missiles struck the displaced, poor citizens. What can we, our women, and our families do?” he told Reuters.

The October 10 ceasefire in the two-year Gaza war has eased the conflict, enabling hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to Gaza’s ruins. Israel has pulled troops back from city positions, and aid flows have increased.

But violence has not completely halted. Hamas has been seeking to reassert itself, some are concerned about a de facto partition of the territory and conditions are dire. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed 312 people in strikes on Gaza since the truce, nearly half of them in one day last week when Israel retaliated for an attack on its troops.

Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began and it has targeted scores of fighters.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.

Under the terms of the truce, Hamas released all 20 living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees held by Israel.

Hamas also agreed to hand over the remains of 28 dead hostages in exchange for the bodies of 360 Palestinian militants killed in the war. The remains of 25 hostages have so far been handed over.

Israel has returned 330 bodies of Palestinians, according to the territory's health ministry.