A young Palestinian man was killed and others were injured on Wednesday in an Israeli air raid that targeted a group of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, the first of its kind in more than a week, according to Palestinian sources.
Civil defense spokesman in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, said that his crews transported “the young martyr, Muhannad Saada, and a number of wounded people to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, following an Israeli air raid that targeted a group of citizens near the western roundabout of Beit Lahia town” in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military, for its part, confirmed carrying out the airstrike, saying it was aimed at “removing a threat.”
An eyewitness stated that “the martyr was with a group of workers and technicians on their way home after they had finished repairing an artesian well damaged by Israeli bombing” in Beit Lahia.
In the southern Gaza Strip, the emergency department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis reported the arrival of “a child and a man who were injured by shrapnel from a bomb dropped by an Israeli drone towards a group of citizens in Rafah.”
The Israeli army confirmed that it “fired several artillery shells and opened fire several times towards the eastern areas of Gaza City and the central, northern and southern Gaza Strip.”
These developments come days after a slowdown in the pace of raids and assassinations in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources, at a time when Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement.
The violations coincided with what Hebrew media reported about Israel’s “commitment” on the ground to implementing the 15-point plan approved by the Peace Council and agreed to by Hamas, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Sunday that he rejected the plan.
According to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of Wednesday, Israeli violations since the agreement came into effect have resulted in the martyrdom of 1,259 Palestinians and the injury of 4,148 others.
The ceasefire agreement came into effect as part of efforts to end the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, and resulted in the martyrdom of more than 73,000 Palestinians and the injury of more than 174,000, as well as widespread destruction affecting about 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure, while the United Nations estimated the cost of rebuilding the Strip at about $70 billion.
