CAIRO: Israeli forces shot and killed at least three Palestinians in separate incidents in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on Sunday, local health authorities said.
Medics reported that the dead included a 15-year-old boy, a fisherman killed outside areas still occupied by Israel in the enclave, and a third man who was shot and killed east of the city in areas under Israeli control.
Israel has carried out repeated airstrikes since a ceasefire took effect in October, saying they are aimed at preventing attacks or destroying militant infrastructure.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says 420 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began.
Israel retained control of 53 percent of Gaza under the first phase of the ceasefire plan, which involved the release of hostages held by militants in Gaza and of Palestinians detained by Israel.
Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes.
Meanwhile, Israeli police shot and killed a Bedouin Arab man during a raid in his village in southern Israel.
The shooting of 36-year-old Mohammed Hussein Tarabin threatened to worsen the already strained relations between the Israeli government and the country’s Bedouin minority.
Israeli police have been conducting a large-scale operation in the village of Tarabin for the past week.
Talal Alkernawi, the mayor of the nearby town of Rahat, confirmed the man’s death.
The Haaretz news site cited relatives as saying that Tarabin, whose family name shares the name of the village, was at home.
In a video statement, Tarabin’s 11-year-old son, Hussein, said that men in uniform came to their house at night. He heard shots and saw his father’s body lying on the ground.
Israel’s more than 200,000 Bedouin are the poorest members of the country’s Arab minority, which also includes Christian and Muslim urban communities.
Israel’s Arab population makes up roughly 20 percent of the country’s 10 million people.
While they are citizens with the right to vote, they often suffer discrimination and tend to identify with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Bedouin sector has grappled with crime and poverty, and about one-third of its members live in villages that the Israeli government considers illegal.
Residents say police have made around two dozen arrests in the village of Tarabin over the past week.
