UPDATES DEATH TOLL, REVISES HEADLINE
By Ramzi Mahmud and Hosni Nedim
GAZA CITY, Palestine / ISTANBUL (AA) - At least 15 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and others injured early Wednesday by Israeli strikes targeting displacement tents, a house, and a gathering of civilians in the Gaza Strip despite a ceasefire agreement in the enclave, medical sources said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said two people, including a paramedic, were killed and 12 others wounded in shelling that targeted the area around Street 5 in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
The wounded were taken to the Red Crescent’s field hospital in al-Mawasi, the organization added.
Local sources said the casualties were reported after an Israeli helicopter struck a tent housing displaced people in al-Mawasi. As ambulance crews moved to evacuate the wounded, an Israeli drone then targeted the rescue team.
Nasser Hospital said that it had received the bodies of three people killed in Israeli artillery fire that targeted homes in the Qizan Rashwan area south of Khan Younis, an area outside Israeli military control.
In Gaza City, four Palestinians were killed and others wounded in heavy Israeli shelling that hit homes along Yaffa Street, al-Sikka Street and al-Hajar Street in the al-Tuffah neighborhood east of the city, also outside Israeli-controlled areas, medical sources said.
Al-Shifa Hospital also received the bodies of two women and a girl after Israeli forces shelled a tent in the al-Mahatta Park area of the al-Tuffah neighborhood, medical officials said.
Two elderly people and a child were also admitted to the same hospital after Israeli artillery targeted the Street 10 area in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood in southeastern Gaza City, according to hospital officials.
The Israeli army has continued to violate the ceasefire deal despite the US administration’s announcement in January that the second phase of the deal had begun. That phase includes additional Israeli withdrawals from Gaza and the launch of reconstruction efforts, which the UN estimates will cost about $70 billion.
The ceasefire ended an Israeli offensive that began October 2023, and lasted two years, killing nearly 72,000 Palestinians and wounding over 171,000 others, while destroying about 90% of Gaza’s infrastructure.
*Writing by Serdar Dincel and Lina Altawell in Istanbul