GAZA — At least nine people including journalists were killed in Israeli strikes in the north Saturday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.
Hamas has denounced the attack as a “blatant violation” of the fragile ceasefire.
“Nine martyrs have been transferred (to hospital), including several journalists and a number of workers from the Al-Khair Charitable Organisation, as a result of the occupation targeting a vehicle with a drone in the town of Beit Lahia, coinciding with artillery shelling on the same area,” civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory reported that “nine martyrs and several injured, including critical cases, have arrived at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing Israeli aggression”.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it struck “two terrorists… operating a drone that posed a threat to IDF troops in the area of Beit Lahia”.
“Later, a number of additional terrorists collected the drone operating equipment and entered a vehicle. The IDF struck the terrorists,” it added.
After the strikes, Hamas accused Israel of violating the Gaza truce deal.
“The occupation (Israel) has committed a horrific massacre in the northern Gaza Strip by targeting a group of journalists and humanitarian workers, in a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.
The director of Hamas-affiliated media in Gaza, Ismail Thawabteh, told AFP that local photo journalists were killed while “using a drone to capture images of a Ramadan dining table in Beit Lahia”.
He said they were “directly targeted by the occupation in two air strikes, despite their work being clear”.
Israel has carried out near-daily air strikes in Gaza since early March, often targeting what the military said were militants planting explosive devices.
The truce in Israel’s war with Palestine, in effect since January 19, has largely held despite the attacks and with no agreement yet on extending the ceasefire.
The first phase of the truce ended on March 1, but both Israel and Hamas have refrained from returning to all-out war.
Israeli strike kills one in south Lebanon: ministry
An Israeli strike targeting a vehicle has also killed one person in south Lebanon on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said, according to state media.
“A strike by the Israeli enemy on a car in the town of Burj al-Muluk (near the Israeli border) led to the death of one citizen,” the ministry’s emergency unit was quoted as saying by state news agency NNA.
A November 27 truce largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war in which Israel sent in ground troops.
Israel has continued to carry out periodic strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it carried out an air strike in southern Lebanon that killed a senior Hezbollah militant who was reportedly responsible for a drone and rocket arsenal.
It came as Lebanon received four detainees who had been taken to Israel during fighting with Hezbollah, with a fifth detainee, a soldier, released on Thursday after he was taken earlier this month.
Israel had been due to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems “strategic”.
The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. — AFP
