GAZA: Israeli strikes killed three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian authorities said, as deadly attacks continued despite international calls to advance a US-backed peace plan and uphold the ceasefire.
The Palestinian Civil Defence agency said the bodies of three people were recovered following the strikes in Al-Qarara, east of Khan Yunis. Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis identified the victims as members of the same family, aged 42, 42 and 28.
The latest deaths followed strikes on Thursday that killed three people, according to the Civil Defence agency. The Israeli military said it had targeted two Hamas members whom it accused of planning attacks against Israelis.
Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the “Board of Peace” established by US President Donald Trump to oversee implementation of the agreement, said on Thursday that the continued deadly strikes were making it difficult for Palestinians to feel the effects of the ceasefire, although he maintained that the truce was still holding.
“Every use of force that does not answer an immediate threat, and every incident that the deconfliction mechanism was not asked to resolve, costs this process something very hard to buy back,” he told the UN Security Council.
The Israeli military has said that it will keep pursuing alleged perpetrators of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.
Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 1,303 people since the ceasefire came into effect, according to Gaza’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israeli military campaign since October 2023 has killed more than 73,430 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Israel killed over 21,500 Gaza children
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office Gaza children have suffered a devastating toll during Israel’s war on the enclave, with more than 21,500 killed since October 2023, while Israel has targeted 1,244 mosques,
The office said on Monday that 1,077 of Gaza’s 1,275 mosques had been completely destroyed during Israeli military operations, leaving only a fraction of the territory’s places of worship untouched.
The Israeli military has systematically targeted civilians, residential buildings and religious sites throughout the conflict.
Gaza children among thousands killed
According to figures cited by the media office, more than 21,500 Palestinian children have been killed since the war began in October 2023.
The authorities said the overall Palestinian death toll has exceeded 73,000, while more than 174,000 people have been injured during the Israeli offensive.
ALSO READ: Israel Killed Over 21,500 Gaza Children, Targeted 1,244 Mosques: Media Office
The media office condemned attacks affecting civilians, particularly children, and called on international mediators to pressure Israel to comply fully with the ceasefire agreement and halt what it described as violations.
Gaza Mosques suffer widespread destruction
The latest statement comes amid renewed Israeli warnings of possible intensified military action in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz on Sunday threatened further action, including assassinations and evacuations of residential neighbourhoods, following reports of kites reaching Israeli territory from Gaza.
