Israeli Fire Kills At Least Six In Gaza, Including 9-Year-Old Girl

Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed at least six people, including a 9-year-old girl, as Palestinian media reported particularly heavy strikes in Gaza City and the army said it targeted a weapons production site and killed Hamas operatives who were working there.

“Toggle Play Deadly Israeli strikes pound Gaza Israel’s military has attacked several places across Gaza, with Palestinians filming flames and smoke rising over Gaza City as a nine-year-old girl was killed by Israeli gunfire in central Gaza”

Al Jazeera

Medics said Israeli gunfire directed at a tent encampment on the eastern side of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza hit 9-year-old Tala Abu Matar, who was taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, and the military said it was unaware of the incident.

Al Jazeera

Separately, the military carried out a large strike in the Sabra area of Gaza City Sunday afternoon, which it said hit a makeshift weapons production site, and Palestinian media footage showed the moment of the strike indicating the IDF gave prior warning.

The IDF said the manufacturing site was struck while Hamas operatives were working there to “manufacture weapon components in an attempt to restore the organization’s capabilities,” in “violation of the ceasefire agreement,” and it added that the operatives were advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians.

Counting Sunday’s deaths, at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October last year, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, while the Israeli military believes that Hamas’s overall figure is largely accurate.

While The Times of Israel | Israeli said Israeli fire killed at least six people including Tala Abu Matar, the Associated Press reporting cited by Beloit Daily News said Israeli fire killed at least six Palestinians, including a 9-year-old girl, and wounded over a dozen others, according to local health officials.

Beloit Daily News also reported that a drone strike on a blacksmith shop in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood killed at least four Palestinians, and that the Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s ambulance service said the strikes wounded 14 people.

Anadolu Ajansı

The Times of Israel | Israeli described the IDF’s claim that it was unaware of the incident involving Tala Abu Matar, while Beloit Daily News said the Israeli military acknowledged striking the area and later said it struck a Hamas weapon production site.

In the same AP account, Israeli gunfire killed 9-year-old Tala Abu Matar in a displacement camp in central Gaza, and the Israeli military said it was unaware of such an incident.

The dispute over the scale of deaths since the ceasefire also appeared across the reporting, with Beloit Daily News citing at least 1,098 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire and The Times of Israel | Israeli citing at least 1,100 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire took effect in October last year.

Beyond Sunday’s strikes, The Platform said Israeli aircraft targeted a residential apartment inside a building housing displaced people on Omar al-Mukhtar Street, east of the Al-Rimal neighborhood in central Gaza City, killing 10 people and wounding more than 20 others, including several in serious condition, according to a medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital.

A displaced resident quoted by The Platform said, “We came here and thought an old building is better than the tents; we’ve been in the building for months now, all of us are civilian displaced families, and suddenly on the evening of the first day of Eid,” as the army targeted part of the building and “the place turned to dust and rubble, and a fire broke out without any warning or alert.”

The Platform also reported that Hamas, in a statement on its Telegram account, condemned the continuation of Israeli airstrikes and accused the occupation army of committing crimes against civilians and continuing to violate the ceasefire agreement.

In the same account, Hamas said the intensification of Israeli raids in the last 48 hours, which killed more than 20 people, reflects the occupation’s aim to return to escalating the war and continuing the war of annihilation, without honoring the guarantees and understandings reached in Sharm el-Sheikh eight months ago.

The Times of Israel | Israeli framed the military’s rationale for strikes around ceasefire violations, saying Hamas operatives worked at a weapons production site to “manufacture weapon components” in “violation of the ceasefire agreement,” while the IDF said the manufacturing site was struck as Hamas operatives advanced attacks on troops and Israeli civilians.