Israeli attacks kill at least four in Gaza, health officials say

Gaza City, Palestine. At least four people died in separate incidents involving Israeli strikes and gunfire across Gaza on Thursday, according to health officials in the territory.

Deaths reported across Gaza

Medics reported that a vehicle was struck in Gaza City, killing at least one person, revising an earlier account that put the death toll at two. Photographs showed people gathering beside the burning vehicle while emergency workers wearing orange vests directed water onto the wreckage.

The medics also reported that strikes killed a Palestinian man riding a bicycle in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and another man close to central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. They said a woman was killed by gunfire near the northern Jabalia refugee camp.

The Israeli military said its strikes in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Nuseirat targeted Hamas militants. It said it had no knowledge of the reported Jabalia incident.

Separately, Gaza’s Hamas-led Interior Ministry said an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle carrying personnel from its drug control police department as they returned from an assignment in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood. A non-commissioned officer was killed and another officer wounded, the ministry said.

Ceasefire disputes and continuing strikes

Israel has intensified its strikes against Hamas over recent weeks, saying the group has been replenishing its weapons and conducting attacks in breach of a ceasefire that is a year old.

Hamas denies attempting attacks or rebuilding its weapons stocks and says Israel is undermining the agreement for peace in Gaza.

The ceasefire brokered by the United States last year provides for the territory’s eventual reconstruction. Progress has nevertheless been limited, with negotiators unable to settle the terms of Hamas disarmament or the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Israeli airstrikes have persisted. Health officials in Gaza put the Palestinian death toll since the ceasefire at no fewer than 1,500, while Israel reports that four soldiers have died.

Palestinian authorities say Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 74,000 people. The assault began after fighters led by Hamas killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel’s south on October 7, 2023.