AP file photo
Israeli strikes killed at least 13 Palestinians, including five children, across the Gaza Strip on Thursday despite a ceasefire that has largely halted fighting.Medics said one Israeli airstrike hit a tent in the western area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least four people and wounding three others, including children, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency and local medics. Another strike killed one person east of the city near areas where Israeli forces are operating.
“The death toll has risen to 13 as a result of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since this morning in a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement,” Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal was quoted as saying by AFP.The Israeli military said the strikes were carried out in response to a failed rocket attack by militants in the enclave.In a statement issued on Friday morning, the Israeli military said it had “precisely struck Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure in the southern and northern Gaza Strip” in response to a “failed projectile” launch.“The launch carried out from the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the IDF said in a joint statement.“The IDF and the Shin Bet view any breach of the agreement with the utmost severity and will continue to act against any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces or Israeli civilians.” Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said a projectile was launched from the Gaza City area toward Israel but fell inside the Gaza Strip, adding that it later carried out a precise strike on the launch site, as cited by the Times of Israel.The strikes came as Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician and former UN envoy to the Middle East, was named director-general of US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Gaza. Mladenov, who has frequently worked to ease tensions between Israel and Hamas, was appointed to lead the yet-untested international body tasked with governing the Gaza Strip.Since October 10, a fragile US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza has largely halted fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, though both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violations.According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 425 Palestinians have been killed since the truce took effect. Israeli strikes on November 22 alone killed at least 21 people, making it one of the deadliest days since the ceasefire began.
