Gaza rescuers say Israeli fire kills seven

Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed in Israeli military strikes during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza City, October 6, 2026. JEHAD ALSHRAFI / AP PHOTO/JEHAD ALSHRAFI Gaza's civil defense rescue service said Thursday, October 8, that seven people were killed in separate Israeli strikes throughout the day, while the Israeli army said three of the victims were "military operatives." Six of the seven were killed in various parts of Gaza City. Two people were killed in a drone strike on a car, while one was killed in a drone attack on a tent in an encampment for displaced people, the rescue service and al-Shifa hospital said. The Israeli army told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the three targeted were "military operatives in terrorist organizations." The civil defense said, "Two people, a woman and a child, were killed and others were wounded when Israeli aircraft bombed a residential building" in Gaza City, adding that "one person was killed by Israeli fire southeast of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza." A woman was also killed by artillery shelling in Gaza City, health officials reported. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it was checking the reports about the other four victims. Read more Subscribers only Gaza's women are the only ones keeping their families alive: 'I had to keep going to find food for the children' Hamas on Thursday denied Israeli claims that it uses Gaza hospitals for military activities, after the army said Wednesday that militants "advanced attacks from within (Kamal Adwan) hospital" in northern Gaza. Hamas, in a statement, called the accusations "criminal incitement." Israel's military offensive against the Islamist group has displaced nearly all the population of Gaza and killed more than 74,200 people, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. They do not distinguish between militants and civilians. The war began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023. Since a ceasefire was declared in October last year, Israeli forces have killed at least 1,450 people in Gaza, according to the ministry. The Israeli military has declared the deaths of five soldiers and one civilian contractor in the same period. Read more Subscribers only Three years after October 7, the unending trauma of a former Israeli hostage held by Hamas for 505 days Le Monde with AFP