Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty ImagesIsraeli strikes in Gaza have killed at least six people, including an Al Jazeera cameraman and at least one child, according to health officials and rescuers.
Al Jazeera said it “strongly condemns the heinous crime of targeting and killing” of its correspondent Ahmed Wishah, who was killed in a strike on a central Gaza home on Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accused Wishah of being “a terrorist in Hamas’ military wing who served as a sniper operative”.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN regards as reliable, says the Israeli military has killed 1,007 people since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect last October.
The IDF said that Wishah in recent months had advanced sniper attack plans against Israeli troops, without providing evidence.
Two other people were killed along with Wishah in the strike on the home in Bureij refugee camp, according to a local hospital and the Hamas-run civil defence agency, which conducts rescue operations. The IDF also accused the two others killed of being a part of Hamas.
Wishah’s brother Mohamed, who was also a correspondent for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli strike in April. The IDF accused him of working in Hamas rocket and weapons production headquarters, without further details.
Meanwhile in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, four family members were killed in an overnight strike on a home, according to the civil defence, relatives and a nearby hospital.
Shifa Hospital told news agencies that it had received the bodies of the family, including two children. Medics told Reuters that the dead from this strike included two women and a child.
Relative Nael Safadi, who told AFP that the strike hit around 02:00 local time, said his cousins “have no connection to Hamas, nor are they involved in anything. They’re just innocent children”.
“Is this really a ceasefire?” another cousin, Mohammad Safadi, asked the AP. “We are civilians. I never held a weapon.”
Strikes were also reported in southern and northern Gaza.
Both Israel and Palestinian armed group Hamas have accused one another of violating the ceasefire since October.
The deal also promised a flood of humanitarian aid into the territory, where the UN says around 81% of buildings were damaged, but aid groups say more help is needed.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, told the UN Security Council this week that the share of households reported going to bed hungry had dropped from 92% to 36% since the ceasefire as more aid trucks entered.
But he said 70% of the population still needs proper shelter, as sanitation conditions deteriorate and essential services are “on the brink”.
“Today, Palestinians in Gaza remain deprived of the basics that you would all demand for your own families: safety, shelter, clean water, healthcare, education,” he said.
The ceasefire also required Hamas to disarm and have no role in the governance of Gaza, which has yet to happen.
Meanwhile, a “Board of Peace” made up of international diplomats was created to oversee an apolitical Palestinian technocrat committee to govern Gaza.
The agreement also states Israel will not occupy Gaza and will progressively hand over territory it had seized in the war. In May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had directed the IDF to increase the area of Gaza under its control to 70% of the territory.
The latest conflict started when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage back to Gaza.
Since then, more than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli military operations, the territory’s health ministry says.
