Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill 12 since dawn

Despite a US-brokered truce that entered its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Palestinian territory, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other for violating the agreement.

The civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authorities, said one strike hit a tent of displaced people in northern Gaza and another targeted an area in the south.

Five people were killed and several injured when an air strike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people in Jabalia in the north, the agency said in a statement.

Five more were killed and several injured in a separate early morning strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis, the agency said, adding that one more was killed in Israeli shelling in Gaza City.

The agency also said that one person was killed by Israeli gunfire in Beit Lahia in north Gaza.

The Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals confirmed they had received the bodies of at least seven people.

"Israel doesn't understand ceasefires or truces," said Osama Abu Askar, who lost his nephew in the Jabalia attack.

He said the people killed there were hit as they slept.

"We've been living under a truce for months, and they've still targeted us. Israel operates on this principle -- saying one thing and doing another," Askar told AFP.
Funeral prayers
Dozens of relatives and mourners gathered at Nasser Hospital, where the bodies of some of those killed were laid out in white shrouds.

Men and women stood in prayer ahead of the funeral, facing the corpses in the hospital compound.

A military official said Israeli forces attacked in response to Hamas violations of the ceasefire agreement.

"The violation included an identification of several armed terrorists who took cover under debris east of the yellow line and adjacent to IDF troops, likely after exiting underground infrastructure in the area," the official said.

"Crossing the yellow line in the vicinity of IDF troops, while armed, is an explicit ceasefire violation, and demonstrates how Hamas systematically violates the ceasefire agreement with intent to harm the troops," the official added.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, Israeli troops withdrew to positions behind a so-called "Yellow Line", although they remain in control of more than half of the Palestinian territory.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem in a statement on Sunday accused the Israeli military of violating the ceasefire.

"Targeting of displaced people in their tents is a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement," Qassem said.

Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authorities, says that at least 601 people have been killed since the truce began.

The Israeli military says at least four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.

Media restrictions and limited access to Gaza have prevented AFP and other news organisationns from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.