GAZA CITY: A Gaza hospital said four people were killed Thursday in fresh Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory, as Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the fragile weeks-long ceasefire.
The new strikes came the morning after one of the deadliest days in the Gaza Strip since the truce came into effect on October 10, with 27 people killed, according to Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority.
The Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza said four people were killed in the strikes early Thursday, after the civil defence agency gave a lower toll of three dead.
The dead included three from one family, including a one-year-old girl, in a strike on a house east of Khan Yunis, and one person in an air strike on the town of Abasan al-Kabira, also east of Khan Yunis.
A source at Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry, who did not wish to be identified, said artillery fire was continuing in the Khan Yunis area.
The so-called yellow line demarcates the boundary inside the Gaza Strip that Israeli troops have withdrawn to positions east of, as part of the US-brokered ceasefire.
"We are aware of a strike east of the yellow line that was done to dismantle terror infrastructures," the Israeli military told AFP.
"We're not aware of the reported casualties. It's part of the regular IDF (Israeli military) operations east of the yellow line."
Israel has carried out repeated strikes against what it says are Hamas targets during the ceasefire, resulting in the death of more than 312 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
"These ongoing crimes represent a blatant disregard by the occupation for the ceasefire agreement," Hamas said in a statement.
The Islamist movement urged US President Donald Trump and other mediators of the truce to "take serious action to stop these crimes".
The UN Security Council voted Monday in favour of a US-drafted resolution endorsing Trump's Gaza peace plan, though Hamas rejected the resolution as failing to meet Palestinians' "political and humanitarian demands".
The war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.
Israel's retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,546 people, according to figures from the health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Fresh Israeli strikes on Gaza, hospital says four dead
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Fresh Israeli strikes on Gaza, hospital says four dead
- A Gaza hospital said four people were killed Thursday in fresh Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory, as Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the fragile weeks-long ceasefire
Trump warns Iran of ‘very traumatic’ outcome if no nuclear deal
- Speaking a day after he hosted Netanyahu at the White House, Trump said he hoped for a result “over the next month”
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump threatened Iran Thursday with “very traumatic” consequences if it fails to make a nuclear deal — but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was skeptical about the quality of any such agreement.
Speaking a day after he hosted Netanyahu at the White House, Trump said he hoped for a result “over the next month” from Washington’s negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.
“We have to make a deal, otherwise it’s going to be very traumatic, very traumatic. I don’t want that to happen, but we have to make a deal,” Trump told reporters.
“This will be very traumatic for Iran if they don’t make a deal.”
Trump — who is considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to pressure Iran — recalled the US military strikes he ordered on Tehran’s nuclear facilities during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in July last year.
“We’ll see if we can get a deal with them, and if we can’t, we’ll have to go to phase two. Phase two will be very tough for them,” Trump said.
Netanyahu had traveled to Washington to push Trump to take a harder line in the Iran nuclear talks, particularly on including the Islamic Republic’s arsenal of ballistic missiles.
But the Israeli and US leaders apparently remained at odds, with Trump saying after their meeting at the White House on Wednesday that he had insisted the negotiations should continue.
- ‘General skepticism’ -
Netanyahu said in Washington on Thursday before departing for Israel that Trump believed he was laying the ground for a deal.
“He believes that the conditions he is creating, combined with the fact that they surely understand they made a mistake last time when they didn’t reach an agreement, may create the conditions for achieving a good deal,” Netanyahu said, according to a video statement from his office.
But the Israeli premier added: “I will not hide from you that I expressed general skepticism regarding the quality of any agreement with Iran.”
Any deal “must include the elements that are very important from our perspective,” Netanyahu continued, listing Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for armed groups such as the Palestinian movement Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“It’s not just the nuclear issue,” he said.
Despite their differences on Iran, Trump signaled his strong personal support for Netanyahu as he criticized Israeli President Isaac Herzog for rejecting his request to pardon the prime minister on corruption charges.
“You have a president that refuses to give him a pardon. I think that man should be ashamed of himself,” Trump said on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly hinted at potential US military action against Iran following its deadly crackdown on protests last month, even as Washington and Tehran restarted talks last week with a meeting in Oman.
The last round of talks between the two foes was cut short by Israel’s war with Iran and the US strikes.
So far, Iran has rejected expanding the new talks beyond the issue of its nuclear program. Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, and has said it will not give in to “excessive demands” on the subject.
