Israeli fire kills nine people in Gaza, including a child, medics say

CAIRO – Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least nine people, including a child, in the Gaza Strip on June 20, health officials said.

An Israeli air strike killed four Palestinians, including two women and a child, in an apartment building in Gaza City, the health officials said. The attack on the building in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City destroyed the apartment and wounded several other people, medics added.

The Israeli military said it struck a militant, without elaborating.

In another incident, Israeli forces shot and killed a woman in Beit Lahiya town farther north, medics said. An Israeli air strike killed at least one person and wounded eight others in Khan Younis, south of the enclave.

Later on June 20, an Israeli air strike killed three people, including a local photographer, in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on any of the incidents.

An October ceasefire has halted major fighting between Hamas and Israel, but it has not ended Israeli attacks.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 1,010 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire. Militants killed four Israeli soldiers in Gaza over the same period.

Israel says its strikes are aimed at thwarting imminent attacks by Hamas and other militants. Hamas rarely discloses information about the deaths of its fighters.

Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked over how to proceed with the next stage of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, which involves Hamas laying down its arms and Israeli withdrawals.

Talks held by mediators Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, over the implementation of the second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, have not yet reached an agreement, sources close to the talks said.

On June 17, the sources told Reuters that Mladenov delivered Hamas and the factions a revised version of the plan road map, addressing some of the factions’ concerns while preserving the “core red lines” of the Trump plan. The sources did not elaborate.

A Hamas official confirmed the document was being studied.

Israel says Hamas must cede power in Gaza, disarm and play no role in the future governance of the enclave. Hamas links any full disarmament to launching a political track towards establishing a Palestinian state.

Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people during their cross-border attack into Israel on Oct 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since then. REUTERS