Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, health officials said, the latest violence to strain a four-month-old, U.S.-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Two people riding an electric bike were killed in an airstrike in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, medics said. Later, Israeli drone fire killed a woman in the same area and troops shot dead a man in Khan Younis in the south, according to the medics. Another man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Jabaliya in northern Gaza.
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The incidents followed an Israeli operation a day earlier in Rafah, where the military said its forces killed four militants who emerged from a tunnel and opened fire on troops.
In Gaza City, dozens of mourners rallied at funerals for three people killed when an apartment building was struck overnight. One body was wrapped in a Hamas flag and another bore a green Hamas ribbon on his forehead, signaling the two were members of the militant group. The identities of those killed could not be independently verified.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for repeated breaches of the cease-fire, a key element of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, which Palestinians say has been the deadliest and most destructive in generations. The plan’s next phase envisions Hamas disarming, an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. Hamas has long rejected disarmament, and Israeli officials say they are preparing for a potential return to full-scale war.
The latest Gaza violence comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet Trump in Washington, with Iran’s ballistic missile program at the top of his agenda. Netanyahu has pressed for a tougher U.S. approach to Tehran’s missiles, while Iran has refused to broaden talks with Washington beyond its nuclear program. The meeting will be the leaders’ sixth in the United States since Trump returned to office a year ago; they also met in Jerusalem in October, when Trump announced a Gaza cease-fire.
The talks follow a round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Oman, with Trump saying another session would follow. They also unfold amid rising international criticism of Israeli measures to tighten control over the occupied West Bank by allowing settlers to buy land directly from Palestinian owners. It is unclear whether that issue will be raised, despite Trump’s past opposition to annexation.
“On this trip we will discuss a range of issues: Gaza, the region, but of course first and foremost the negotiations with Iran,” Netanyahu said in a video statement before his departure, adding he would present Israel’s views on principles for the talks. His office said he will emphasize Israel’s concerns over Iran’s missile arsenal, not just its nuclear activities.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned that Netanyahu’s visit would have a “destructive” influence on diplomacy “detrimental to the region.” Israeli officials have repeatedly argued that Iran’s missiles pose a distinct and, in some ways, more immediate threat than its nuclear program, with the potential to strike with little warning and strain Israel’s air defenses. During last June’s conflict between the longtime adversaries, Iran launched waves of ballistic missiles and other projectiles at Israeli territory, hitting both military and civilian areas. “I don’t think it’s an existential threat, but definitely it’s a major threat on the Israeli home front,” said Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
Analysts say Netanyahu remains wary of any U.S.-Iran deal. “He’s concerned that President Trump is not quite as enthusiastic about a military attack on the Iranians as Netanyahu wishes were the case,” said Guy Ziv, an associate professor at American University. “He wants to first convince President Trump that Iran’s ballistic missiles, which he sees as a major threat to Israel, must be included in any agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.”
The 12-day war in June, triggered by unprecedented Israeli strikes on Iranian military and nuclear facilities as well as residential areas, drew U.S. participation in strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites before a Trump-brokered cease-fire took hold. In Israel, the war killed 30 people and caused extensive damage to property, including a hospital and several public institutions. Iran also fired a barrage of some 200 missiles at Israel in October 2024 after the killings of senior Hamas and Hezbollah figures, and in April 2024 launched its first-ever drone-and-missile attack on Israel in retaliation for a deadly strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus that Tehran blamed on Israel.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
