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An Israeli strike and gunfire killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy and a senior Hamas police officer, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Gazan health and police officials said.
The deaths add to a toll of more than 1,100 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to health officials in the enclave.
The truce halted major fighting but has failed to stop sporadic violence. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.
Medics said Muataz Abu Shaar, 10, was shot on Tuesday by Israeli gunfire in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
In Jabalia, in the north of the enclave, an Israeli airstrike on a post of the Hamas-led police force killed at least seven people, including a woman, and wounded several other people, medics and police officials said.
The Hamas-led interior ministry said in a statement that the dead included the head of the Jabalia police force, Col. Mohammad Marwan Salem, along with other officers.
Israel has stepped up its attacks against Hamas security men and police posts, killing dozens of them since October, according to police sources.
Israel wants Hamas to cede control of Gaza and disarm. While the group said it was ready to relinquish power, it has always resisted calls to lay down arms.
In Khan Younis, in the south, an Israeli airstrike killed a 36-year-old man and left three people wounded, medics said. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on either of the Rafah or Jabalia incidents.
The latest violence comes as Hamas leaders visited Cairo for further talks on implementing the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
The discussions include Hamas disarmament and Israeli army withdrawals, according to sources close to the talks, who said little progress had been made in the past weeks toward reaching a broad agreement to end the conflict.
Nine months after a ceasefire brought an end to Israel’s heaviest attacks, large parts of Gaza are still in crisis. For The National, CBC’s Chris Brown breaks down how a collapsed water grid, severe food shortages, and ongoing military activity have left the territory frozen in what’s been described as ‘humanitarian purgatory.’
Hamas says Israel’s violations of the ceasefire are a key obstacle to implementing the second phase of Trump’s plan.
Nearly all of Gaza’s two million people, most of whom have been displaced several times, now live on a tiny strip of land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.
Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people during their cross-border attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. The Gazan Health Ministry said more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since then.