Israeli strikes persist in Gaza, killing five despite ceasefire

Death and destruction continued to stalk Gaza on Friday as Israeli shelling and drone strikes killed at least five people and wounded 11 others, Palestinian and Israeli officials said, underscoring the fragility of a ceasefire that has failed to still the guns.

The latest bloodshed unfolded in central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp and the southern city of Rafah, where Israeli forces pressed on with targeted operations despite the truce meant to halt hostilities in the besieged enclave.

In Maghazi, two Palestinian men were killed when a drone strike struck its targets, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Farther south in Rafah, Israel’s military said its air force killed three “terrorists” after a group of eight individuals emerged from an underground location. In a statement, Israeli forces said additional strikes followed and that troops were continuing searches in the area to “locate and eliminate” the remaining individuals.

Tensions also flared along Gaza’s southern coast, where Israeli naval gunboats chased fishing vessels and opened heavy machine-gun fire on fishermen off Rafah’s shoreline, Wafa reported. No immediate casualties were reported.

Rafah holds strategic significance as the site of Gaza’s only border crossing that does not lead into Israel, serving as a vital lifeline for humanitarian aid entering the enclave. Palestinian authorities have repeatedly demanded the immediate reopening of the crossing, a key provision of the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement. They say the continued closure has choked off desperately needed supplies for tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering in the area.

Elsewhere in southern Gaza, six Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces shelled a tent housing displaced families in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, according to sources at al-Helal field hospital and Nasser Hospital cited by Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Hani al-Shaer. Anadolu news agency reported that a pregnant woman was among those wounded in the attack.

Since the ceasefire took effect in October, Israeli strikes and military operations have killed at least 492 Palestinians and injured 1,356 others, according to health authorities in Gaza.

The US-brokered ceasefire, aimed at ending the war that erupted on 7 October 2023, has been in place for more than three months, though both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of repeated violations. Washington announced earlier this month that the agreement had entered its second phase, intended to bring a definitive end to the conflict, but tangible progress on the ground remains elusive.

On Thursday, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres renewed calls for the full implementation of the ceasefire, including the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military, however, said its troops remain deployed “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement” and would continue operating to counter what it described as immediate threats.

As diplomacy struggles to keep pace, Gaza’s battered landscape continues to bear witness to a ceasefire that exists on paper, even as violence persists on the ground.

With agency inputs