Israeli strikes kill 11 in Gaza after failed rocket launch

Israeli strikes killed at least 11 Palestinians in separate strikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, in what the military said came in response to a failed rocket attack in the enclave.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least four people and wounded three others, including children, in a tent in the western area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Another strike killed a person east of the city, near where Israeli forces operate.

Later on Thursday, medics said a man was killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia in northern Gaza, while another strike killed a person in a tent near Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Four other people were killed in a separate strike in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it struck several Hamas fighters, rocket launch pits and what it described as "terror infrastructure," after a rocket was launched from the area of Gaza City toward Israel.

The military said the rocket fell short and landed by a hospital in Gaza and accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire. A source from the group told Reuters it was checking the allegation.

The ceasefire agreed in October has not progressed beyond the first phase, under which major fighting stopped, Israel withdrew from less than half of Gaza and Hamas released hostages in return for Palestinians detainees and convicted prisoners.

Under future phases yet to be hammered out, US President Donald Trump's plan envisages Hamas disarming, Israel pulling out further and an internationally backed administration rebuilding Gaza. But little progress has been made on the next steps. More than 400 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed since the ceasefire took effect, and nearly all of Gaza's more than 2 million people now live in makeshift homes or damaged buildings in a sliver of territory where Israeli troops have withdrawn and Hamas has reasserted control.

Israel is awaiting the handover of the final hostage body due under the initial stage of the truce. An Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would not move to the next phase of the ceasefire until Hamas returns the remains of the last Israeli hostage still held in Gaza.

Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, another condition of the US-backed plan, saying it will do so only once the remains are returned.

CEASEFIRE LOOKING FRAGILE

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of major breaches of the ceasefire deal and remain far apart on the more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase.

Israel has continued to carry out air strikes and targeted operations across Gaza. The Israeli military said it views "with utmost severity" any attempts by the groups in Gaza to attack Israel.

A Hamas official told Reuters on Thursday the group had documented more than 1,100 Israeli violations of the ceasefire since October and had urged mediators to intervene. The violations include killings, injuries, artillery and aerial strikes, home demolitions and detention of people, he said.

Hamas has refused to disarm and has been reasserting its control. Israel has said it will resume military action if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully.

Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others in an assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.