Israeli airstrike kills 4 Palestinians in central Gaza

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Mar 11, 2025 3:26 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

An Israeli airstrike killed 4 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, the territory's civilian exigency work said, arsenic Arab mediators and the United States tried to hammer retired differences betwixt Hamas and Israel implicit a Jan. 19 ceasefire agreement.

The Israeli subject said its aerial unit attacked "terrorists who were engaged successful a suspicious enactment connected the crushed successful central Gaza and posed a menace to the force."

At Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, relatives of the dormant men arrived to bid farewell, sitting astir the white-shrouded bodies. Medics and relatives said the 4 dead, who included 2 brothers, were civilians.

"Did we extremity the warfare oregon what happened? We don't know," said Arafat Al-Hana, the begetter of 1 of the victims.

Israel sent a delegation to the Qatari capital, Doha, for much ceasefire talks, and Hamas leaders ended a circular of talks successful Cairo earlier this week. But determination has been nary motion of a breakthrough to resoluteness the disputes that endanger a instrumentality to equipped conflict.

Fighting in Gaza has been halted since Jan. 19 nether the first signifier of the truce, and Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli hostages and 5 Thais for immoderate 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Hamas wants to statesman talks connected a 2nd signifier that was expected to scope an statement implicit Israel's afloat pullout from the enclave. Israel demands that the Palestinian militant group free the remaining hostages without opening signifier 2 negotiations.

Aid blockage remains successful Gaza

On Tuesday, Hamas accused Israel of trying to origin famine in Gaza by continuing to suspend the introduction of assistance and by deciding to sever its past moving enactment of energy to the enclave, a determination that impacted a h2o desalination and sewage attraction facility.

"We telephone connected mediators to unit the concern [Israel] to abide by its pledges and unfastened the crossings immediately, to guarantee the travel of humanitarian assistance and extremity the argumentation of corporate punishment pursued by the concern authorities against our people," it said successful a statement.

Israel chopped assistance flows of food, medicine and substance imports this month, aiming to pressure militant radical Hamas successful ceasefire talks. On Sunday, it announced an energy cut, which assistance groups accidental would deprive Gazans of cleanable water.

WATCH | Desalination works moving astatine astir 30% capableness aft powerfulness chopped by Israel:

There is simply a hazard that Gaza will experience another hunger crisis if Israel continues to artifact aid, the caput of the United Nations Palestinian alleviation bureau (UNRWA) in Gaza said connected Monday.

"I deliberation the much we spell up [with assistance blockages], the much we volition spot the interaction expanding connected the population. And obviously, the hazard ... is that we spell backmost to concern we experienced months agone astir deepening hunger successful the Gaza Strip," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

Hamas-led militants carried retired a cross-border raid into confederate Israel connected Oct. 7, 2023, triggering an Israeli violative into the Gaza Strip that has killed much than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas militants killed 1,200 radical and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.