Israel launched a deadly airstrike on a tent camp in Gaza, Palestinian officials said
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Israel fired airstrikes into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 11 people, Palestinian officials said, in what the military called a response to ceasefire violations by the Palestinian terror group, Hamas.
Doctors in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced families killed at least four people, while health officials said another strike killed five in Khan Younis in the south and another was shot dead in the north.
Airstrikes also targeted what was believed to be a commander of the Islamic Jihad group, an affiliate of Hamas, in the Tel Al-Hawa area of Gaza City.
Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, accused Israel of committing a new “massacre” against Palestinian refugees, calling it a major violation of the ceasefire days ahead of the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s “Peace Board”.
An Israeli army chief called Sunday’s strikes “precise” and in line with international law, saying the group had repeatedly violated the October ceasefire.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza says that at least 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire agreement began. Israel says four soldiers were killed by Gaza forces at the same time.
Israel and Hamas traded violations of the cease-fire agreement, which is a key element of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, the deadliest and most destructive conflict in generations of Israeli-Palestinians.
ThThe Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas invaded southern Israel On October 7, 2023, more than 1,200 people died, according to Israeli statistics. Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 people since then, according to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ meeting on Thursday
“In recent hours, the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] has started a strike because of Hamas’ deliberate violation of the cease-fire agreement yesterday in the Beit Hanoun area,” said an Israeli military official.
The official said the terrorists emerged from the tunnel on the Israeli side of the “yellow line” agreed under the decision to delimit areas controlled by Israel and Hamas.
“Crossing the yellow line near IDF soldiers, while armed, is a clear violation of the ceasefire – and shows how Hamas violates the peace agreement with the intention of harming IDF soldiers,” the official said.
Israel has moved deeper into the yellow line in Gaza independently even though Israel’s withdrawal is part of the ceasefire agreement, and Hamas has so far refused demands to lay down its weapons, which is also proposed in the plan. Israel has said it will have to force Hamas to disarm if it does not do so.
Qassem, the Hamas spokesman, urged those who attended the first meeting of Trump’s new international peace council in Gaza on Thursday to pressure Israel to stop violating the agreement and make a deal without delay.
US President Donald Trump launched his ‘Peace Board’ with the first goal of rebuilding Gaza. The 35 signatories include regional powers in the Middle East such as Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but traditional US allies have been wary of joining.
US officials told Reuters last week that Trump will announce a multibillion-dollar Gaza reconstruction plan and details of United Nations-sanctioned military plans to stabilize the Palestinian enclave at a meeting in Washington, DC.
The Israeli army said it continued to destroy underground tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip in accordance with the agreement and that its warplanes attacked a building east of the yellow line after seeing soldiers exiting the tunnel, killing at least two of them. Gaza officials had no knowledge of the reported incidents.
Hospital complaints go with MSF to stop many services
One of the major hospitals that last worked in Gaza criticized the action of Doctors Without Borders, which is also known as MSF, to withdraw from work due to concerns about armed men, and said on Sunday that the hospital filed a civil suit.l security police.
MSF said in a statement on Saturday that all its non-essential operations at Nasser Hospital had been suspended due to a security breach that posed “severe” threats to its teams and patients.
It means organization there has been an increase in patients and staff seeing armed men in parts of the compound since a US-brokered ceasefire was reached in October.
Nasser Hospital said on Sunday that the increase in armed men was due to the illegal police presence aimed at protecting patients and staff and that MSF’s allegations were “wrong, irresponsible, and pose a serious threat to a secure medical facility.”
Located in Khan Younis, Nasser Hospital is one of Gaza’s fworking hospitals. Hundreds of sick and war-wounded patients are treated there every day, and the facility has been the site of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in exchange for Israeli hostages as part of the current ceasefire agreement.
“MSF teams have reported unacceptable behavior including the presence of armed men, intimidation, arbitrary arrests of patients and the recent situation of suspected armed movements,” the organization said. The suspension took place in January but was only recently announced.
The staff of Nasser Hospital said that in the past months we have been attacked many times by masked, armed men and soldiers, which is why the presence of armed police is important.
Hamas remains dominant in areas not under Israeli control, including the area where Nasser Hospital is located. But other armed groups have infiltrated Gaza as a result of the war, including groups supported by the Israeli army in the Israeli-controlled part.
