Gaza strikes kill nine as Israeli minister rejects ceasefire halt
Israeli airstrikes continued across the Gaza Strip for a second straight day on Sunday, killing at least nine Palestinians, even as the United States announced a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year's ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, said on Sunday that there was no deal to halt attacks on Gaza. He added that Israel, which already controls 70 percent of the enclave, should take full control of it.
Palestinian health officials reported separate Israeli strikes in northern Gaza City, the central city of Deir al-Balah, and the southern area of Khan Younis. Medics said a man and his wife were killed and four others wounded in an airstrike on an apartment in Deir al-Balah. Two more people, including a child, were killed in a strike on an apartment in Gaza City. A father, mother, and their nine-year-old son were killed in a dawn strike on a house in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis. Another person was killed near Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said the strikes in Deir al-Balah targeted two commanders of Hamas's elite Nukhba force. It said the Gaza City and Jabalia strikes also targeted military operatives, but that the situation was still under review.
At least 1,230 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire was reached in October, according to Palestinian health officials.
The renewed violence comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Hamas had agreed to disarm under a U.S.-backed initiative to implement the ceasefire agreement reached last year in Egypt. Trump's Board of Peace, the U.S.-led body overseeing the ceasefire, published a 15-point roadmap on Friday outlining the final steps for implementing the agreement.
The roadmap has yet to be implemented. Hamas has said it will hand over its weapons for storage only after Israel halts military operations and withdraws its forces in line with the agreement. An Israeli official told Reuters that there would be no withdrawal from current military positions unless Hamas undergoes what he called genuine disarmament.
Cohen told Army Radio he did not believe Hamas would disarm, saying it would rather play games and try to hide its weaponry. Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the initiative. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called it unacceptable and said Israel should continue assassinating Hamas leaders.
Mohammed Dahlan, a former senior Fatah official based in the United Arab Emirates, said in a Facebook post that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a senior adviser involved in the U.S. initiative, had told him he was working with the Israeli side to stop attacks on Gaza. Dahlan said contacts with the U.S. were continuing to ensure the agreement was fully implemented, adding that its success now depended on Israel fully ending its daily attacks on Gaza.
Reuters reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment on Dahlan's remarks. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
