By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Israeli fire killed 11 Palestinians, including two boys and three journalists, in Gaza on Wednesday, local medics said, and the Israeli military said it had “eliminated” a Palestinian militant who posed a threat to soldiers.
In the latest violence disrupting a brittle, three-month-old ceasefire, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian journalists travelling in a car in the central Gaza Strip.
The three were on an assignment sponsored by the Egyptian Committee, which supervises Egypt’s relief work in Gaza, to film tent encampments built by Egypt for displaced Palestinians, other local journalists told Reuters.
An Egyptian security source confirmed the vehicle belonged to the committee but gave no further details. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for multiple breaches of the October truce after two years of war that devastated Gaza and caused a humanitarian disaster, and remain at odds over the next steps in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
Earlier on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said three people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed as a result of Israeli tank shelling east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. Two others, a boy of 13 and a woman, were killed in two Israeli shooting incidents in eastern Khan Younis in Gaza’s south, they said.
Three other Palestinians were killed in other shootings across the coastal enclave, taking Wednesday’s death toll to at least 11, the health ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza said.
Residents said the two incidents occurred in Palestinian-controlled areas. The ceasefire brought about a partial Israeli military withdrawal, leaving Israeli forces holding about 53% of the enclave, but they have been gradually expanding their presence in recent weeks, leading to further displacement of Palestinian families, residents told Reuters.
There was also no immediate Israeli military comment on the two incidents.
Earlier on Wednesday, it said in a statement that Israeli forces had killed a “terrorist” who entered an area under their control, posing an imminent threat to soldiers operating there.
TRUMP PLAN STRUGGLES TO MOVE BEYOND FIRST STAGE
The U.S.-brokered October deal has not progressed beyond the first-phase ceasefire, under which major fighting stopped, some Israeli forces pulled back, and Hamas freed hostages in return for Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners.
Under future phases whose details have yet to be hammered out, Hamas is supposed to disarm, Israeli forces withdraw further and an internationally backed administration installed to rebuild the ruined, densely populated territory.
But no timetable has been set to implement the plan.
Trump was due on Thursday to preside over a ceremony celebrating the Board of Peace, a group he formed with the stated goal of redeveloping the coastal enclave.
Israel says it can only move into the second phase after Hamas hands over the remains of the last Israeli hostage.
On Wednesday, Hamas Gaza spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the Islamist group had shared all information it had on the body of the last hostage and searched for it but in vain, blaming what it called Israeli military obstruction.
More than 460 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed in clashes since the ceasefire took effect.
Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after a Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s assault has killed 71,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health authorities say.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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