CAIRO — At least two Palestinians lost their lives Sunday when an Israeli airstrike hit a crowd of people along Omar Al-Mokhtar road in the center of Gaza City, located in the northern part of the enclave, according to health officials on the ground.
Medical personnel reported that several additional individuals sustained injuries in the strike. The Israeli military had not issued any statement addressing the incident as of Sunday.
Israel has conducted repeated strikes in Gaza following a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hamas that was reached in October of last year. Israeli officials have maintained that these strikes target militants who pose a threat to Israeli forces in Gaza or who were involved in the 2023 attack.
Hamas has charged Israel with breaking the terms of the ceasefire. Meanwhile, Nikolay Mladenov, the envoy to Gaza appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump through the Board of Peace, has stated that both sides have failed to uphold the agreement.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas remain stalled over how to carry out the second phase of the ceasefire deal, which calls for Hamas to disarm and for Israeli forces to withdraw from the territory.
In the eight months since the ceasefire went into effect, more than 1,060 Palestinians — a large portion of them civilians — and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, based on figures provided by each side. Hamas has not disclosed its own casualty numbers.
