Air strikes by Israeli forces have killed at least 28 people across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, local authorities have said.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce since it came into effect in October last year.
Hamas’ civil defence agency says children and women were among those killed. It added that in one attack, helicopter gunships hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis.
According to Palestinians, the strikes are the heaviest since the second phase of the ceasefire, brokered by President Trump in October, came into effect earlier this month.
Israeli military, in confirming the airstrikes, said it was in response to a Hamas violation of the agreement on Friday.
According to a statement by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), “eight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah,” an area in Gaza where Israeli forces are deployed under the October agreement.
The IDF said it had, together with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), struck targets in various locations, including “four commanders and additional terrorists” as well as a weapons storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site and “two launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip.”
Hamas has condemned the strikes and urged the US to take immediate action, adding that “these ongoing violations” confirm that the Israeli government “continues its brutal war of genocide against the strip.”
