Israeli strikes kill eight in Gaza, medics say, as cease-fire violations mount
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli attacks killed eight people across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said, as the Israeli military reported it had targeted and killed a militant it said posed an immediate threat to its forces in the south of the enclave.
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Medics said an airstrike on a group of Palestinians in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood, in the north, killed two people and wounded several others. Later in the day, five people were killed and several others injured — some critically — in what medics described as Israeli drone strikes on two police checkpoints in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and in the Abu Hujair area northwest of the Bureij refugee camp.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the casualty reports from those incidents. It separately said its forces had killed a militant who presented a direct threat in Gaza’s south. Details on the militant’s identity and the timing of that strike were not immediately available.
Strikes amid a fragile cease-fire
The latest attacks came despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that began last October. Both sides have traded blame for violations of the truce as sporadic clashes and strikes persist across the enclave.
In January, the Gaza deal moved into a second phase in which Israel is expected to withdraw troops further from the territory and Hamas is due to yield aspects of the enclave’s civil administration. Implementation has been uneven and remains contested on the ground.
Human toll and contested narratives
Gaza has been devastated in the war that began after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza health ministry says more than 72,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israeli fire since then. The ministry also reports that at least 600 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the cease-fire took effect last October.
Israel has said four of its soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza since the truce began. The two sides accuse each other of undermining the agreement with ongoing attacks, creating a volatile backdrop in which local cease-fire arrangements coexist uneasily with continued military operations.
Details still emerging
Authorities did not immediately release the names of those killed in the Tuffah strike or at the checkpoints in Khan Younis and Abu Hujair. Medics said the number of wounded from the three incidents could rise as rescuers worked through the night and as some of the injured remained in critical condition.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reported strikes on the police checkpoints. As with many incidents in the conflict, independent verification of precise casualty figures and the status of targets has been difficult amid restricted access and ongoing hostilities.
The day’s violence underscored how quickly the situation can shift despite formal cease-fire parameters. With both sides insisting that the other is responsible for breaches, the risk of escalation remains high even as diplomatic efforts seek to consolidate a fragile calm.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
