Gaza’s civil defence agency said nine people, including journalists, were killed in Israeli strikes in the north Saturday, an attack Hamas denounced 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 Hamas, 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.
Meanwhile, Hamas said that ‘the ball is in Israel’s court’ after offering to release an Israeli-US hostage and return the bodies of four others as part of Gaza truce talks.
Following the offer on Friday, Israel said the Palestinian militants had ‘not budged a millimetre’ after a proposal from US president Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy.
The first phase of the truce, which began in January, ended on March 1 without agreement on next steps. A Hamas official said negotiations began in Doha on Tuesday.
‘The ball is in Israel’s court,’ a Hamas spokesman said.
‘We want to solidify the ceasefire agreement and force (Israel) to implement its terms,’ Abdul Latif al-Qanou told AFP, accusing Israel of ‘delaying’ its enforcement.
He pointed to the ongoing blockage of humanitarian aid entering Gaza since March 2.
A Hamas political bureau member, speaking anonymously, told AFP the proposal to release 21-year-old soldier Edan Alexander – abducted during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack – and return the bodies of four other Israeli-American hostages was part of a ‘unique agreement’.
In exchange, Israel would free Palestinian prisoners, with the number still under negotiation, the official said.