GAZA CITY, Palestine: Gaza’s civil defence agency said four people were killed by Israeli forces on Monday in Gaza City, with the army saying it fired at Hamas fighters who crossed a ceasefire line.
The people were killed in two separate incidents on Monday morning, both times “by Israeli gunfire as they were returning to check on their homes in the Al-Shaaf area, east of Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, in the east of Gaza City”, said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the rescue service.
Israel’s military said it had fired at Hamas fighters who crossed the so-called “Yellow Line” and approached troops in the Shujaiya neighbourhood, which is adjacent to Al-Tuffah.
The Yellow Line is the boundary behind which Israeli troops pulled back and remain stationed under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Several such incidents have taken place since a fragile US-brokered ceasefire began on October 10, with at least 80 people killed in total in Israeli attacks, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The Israeli military struck various areas across Gaza on Sunday, with Israel accusing Hamas of “a blatant violation” of the truce.
Hamas denied knowledge of any attack, and one official accused Israel of fabricating “pretexts” to resume the war.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to Gaza’s north since the beginning of the ceasefire, often coming home to piles of rubble where their homes once stood.
UN voices concern over ‘acts of violence in Gaza’
The United Nations was “concerned by all acts of violence in Gaza,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Monday, after a series of Israeli attacks threatened to wreck the fragile ceasefire.
“We urge all parties to honour all of their commitments to ensure the protection of civilians and avoid any actions that could lead to a renewal of hostilities and undermine humanitarian operations,” the UN secretary-general’s spokesman said.
Trump threatens Hamas
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said Monday that he would give Hamas a chance to honour the Gaza truce deal with Israel, but warned the Palestinian group would be “eradicated” if it fails to do so.
“We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“And if they’re not, we’re going to go and we’re going to eradicate them, if we have to. They’ll be eradicated, and they know that.”
Trump’s comments came as two of his top envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the weekend Israeli bombardment threatened to wreck the fragile ceasefire.
Trump, however, insisted that American forces would not be involved against Hamas, saying dozens of countries that have agreed to join an international stabilization force for Gaza would “love to go in.”
“In addition, you have Israel would go in in two minutes, if I asked them to go in,” Trump said.
“But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance, and hopefully there will be a little less violence. But right now, you know, they’re violent people.”
