CAIRO: Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least four people in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to health officials in the Palestinian territory.
In Gaza City, a strike targeting a car killed at least one person, medics said. They had initially reported two fatalities. Images from the scene showed emergency workers in orange vests spraying water on the burning wreckage as a crowd gathered nearby.
Other Israeli strikes killed a Palestinian man riding a bicycle in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and another man near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. Gunfire also killed a woman near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, medics said.
The Hamas-led Interior Ministry said an Israeli airstrike struck a vehicle carrying officers from the drug control police department in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, killing a non-commissioned officer and injuring another as they returned from an assignment.
Israel has intensified strikes in recent weeks, accusing Hamas of rebuilding its military capabilities and launching attacks in violation of a ceasefire reached about a year ago. Hamas has denied attempting to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal and has accused Israel of undermining the truce.
The US-brokered ceasefire provides for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza. However, progress has remained limited as negotiators continue to disagree over Hamas’s disarmament and an Israeli troop withdrawal.
Israeli airstrikes have continued despite the ceasefire. Gaza health officials say at least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since it took effect, while Israel says four of its soldiers have died.
Palestinian authorities report that more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.