Gaza City, Palestine. Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, while conflict monitor Acled reported that Israeli attacks had risen to their highest monthly level since an October ceasefire took effect.
Reported strikes
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed two people near the Tuffah neighbourhood in northern Gaza, while Israeli tank shelling killed a third person in the Zeitoun suburb in eastern Gaza City.
An airstrike on a tent encampment for displaced people in western Gaza City killed one person and wounded several others, medics said. Another strike on a vehicle in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killed one person.
Witnesses said an airstrike also hit a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, damaging several nearby homes.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the reported incidents.
Ceasefire toll
More than 1,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to Gazan health officials. Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.
“The entire people of Gaza have not lived a single day or a single moment of ceasefire. This ceasefire is an illusion,” Jibril Khattab, a relative of one of those killed, told Reuters at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital.
“No place in all of Gaza is safe,” he added.
Rising attacks
The truce halted major fighting but has not stopped near-daily Israeli strikes. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza during the same period.
Acled, a US-based conflict monitor that tracks Israeli attacks in Gaza, said airstrikes against Hamas and other militants increased to more than 40 in June, the highest monthly total since the ceasefire began.
