Cairo (TDI): At least nine Palestinians were killed, including two local journalists, and others injured on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s northern Beit Lahiya town, Gaza’s health ministry said, as Hamas’ leaders hold Gaza ceasefire negotiations with mediators in Cairo.
Several were critically wounded as the strike hit a car, with casualties inside and outside the vehicle, according to Reuters.
Witnesses and fellow journalists said the people in the vehicle were on a mission for a charity called Al-Khair Foundation in Beit Lahiya, and they were accompanied by journalists and photographers when the strike targeted them.
At least three local journalists were among the deceased, according to Palestinian media.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it had targeted two individuals that it identified as “terrorists” operating a drone that it said posed a threat to troops in Beit Lahiya.
The military later struck several other suspects who it said had collected the drone equipment and entered a vehicle.
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The military did not say how it had determined that the individuals it had targeted were “terrorists” or provide detail on the threat that the drone had posed to its soldiers.
The incident highlights the fragility of the January 19 ceasefire deal that halted large-scale war in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian health officials claim dozens of people have been killed by Israeli fire despite the truce.
Commenting on the latest deaths, the Islamist Hamas group accused Israel of attempting to renege on the ceasefire deal, putting the number of Palestinians killed since January 19 at 150.
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It urged mediators to compel Israel to move ahead with the implementation of the phased ceasefire agreemnt, blaming Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the current impasse.
Responding to some of the incidents reported by Gaza medics, the Israeli forces say they have intervened to thwart threats by “terrorists” approaching its troops or planting bombs on the ground near where forces operate.
