Israeli air strikes kill 11 in Gaza, say Palestinian officials
Israel’s military says the strikes – days before Trump’s first Board of Peace meeting – were a response to ceasefire violations by Hamas
Israel fired air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 11 Palestinians, Palestinian officials said, in what the military called a response to ceasefire violations by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Gaza doctors said an Israeli air strike on a tent encampment housing displaced families killed at least four people, while health officials said another strike killed five in Khan Younis in the south and another person was shot dead in the north.
Air strikes also targeted what was thought to be a commander of the Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas, in the Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City.
Hazem Qassem, Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, accused Israel of committing a new “massacre” against displaced Palestinians, calling it a serious breach of the ceasefire days before the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
An Israeli military official called Sunday’s strikes “precise” and in line with international law, and said the Palestinian militant group had repeatedly violated an October ceasefire.
Israel and Hamas have repeatedly traded blame for violations of the ceasefire deal, a key element of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, the deadliest and most destructive in the generations-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.