Strikes in Gaza Kill 4 Refugees        08/25 06:08

   

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Palestinian residents of war-battered Gaza 
fled homes and businesses as Israeli strikes and tank fire killed at least four 
people Monday, including two children, hospital officials said, a week after a 
U.S. delegation asked Israel to draw down attacks.

   After evacuation warnings by Israel's military, a strike hit a building in 
the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. One family was unable to flee and a 
4-year-old child was killed, according to Awda Hospital, where he was taken. 
His mother and sister were wounded. There was no Israeli military comment.

   Israeli strikes hit three other buildings across the territory after 
residents said they received evacuation warnings. Some people sprinted away, 
with mothers carrying children, while others moved amid the rubble in 
wheelchairs or with canes.

   Smoke rose over the already devastated landscape.

   Israel's military said it carried out strikes in the Shati refugee camp in 
Gaza City and in Deir al-Balah after issuing warnings, targeting what it 
described as two Hamas weapons storage facilities inside mosques. The military 
did not provide evidence but said the facilities contained dozens of 
"Kalashnikov rifles, magazines and additional military equipment."

   An earlier Israeli strike on a tent in Deir al-Balah killed a man, according 
to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where his body was taken. Israel's military said it killed 
a militant affiliated with Hamas' special forces unit.

   Others were killed or hurt in Khan Younis in the south

   A man was killed and five others were wounded in an Israeli strike in Khan 
Younis in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the 
casualties.

   And Israeli tank fire hit an area east of Khan Younis, killing a 10-year-old 
girl, according to the hospital, where her body was taken.

   Israel's military did not immediately comment on the strike in Khan Younis 
and said it was not aware of the incident with the child.

   Israel has continued to carry out targeted killings in the week since a U.S. 
delegation met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to push last 
year's ceasefire deal forward.

   U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner asked Netanyahu to draw down Israel's attacks 
in Gaza, a person familiar with the meeting said last week, speaking on 
condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists.

   Israel has announced strikes on six of the seven days since that meeting.

   Israel says it is targeting militants and related sites

   While the heaviest fighting in Gaza has subsided since the ceasefire took 
hold in October, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 1,288 Palestinians, 
according to Gaza's health ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led 
government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally 
reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown 
of civilians and militants.

   Militants have carried out shooting attacks on Israeli troops, and Israel 
says its strikes are in response to that and other ceasefire violations. Five 
Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

   Palestinian officials have reported strikes on homes and police stations, 
and Hamas has claimed that attacks are designed to destabilize Gaza and prevent 
progress on the ceasefire's next steps, which include demilitarizing and 
reconstructing the territory and the deployment of an international 
stabilization force.

   Israel warns against kites sent from Gaza

   In the period before the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel 
that sparked the war, burning kites and balloons were sent from Gaza into 
Israel, causing fires and other damage.

   Now Israeli officials are expressing concern after several kites were found 
in a kibbutz near Gaza. No weapons or dangerous materials were attached. 
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement Sunday threatened to 
ramp up strikes on Gaza unless Hamas ensures the kites stop flying toward 
Israel.

   Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem has called the kites "essentially children's 
toys" and accused Israel of using them as "an attempt to justify the 
continuation of aggression and violations against our people."

   The Oct. 7 attack killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. All 
hostages or their remains were later released. Israel's retaliatory offensive 
in Gaza has killed more than 73,422 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health 
ministry.