Gaza civil defence says toddler among 4 dead in Israeli strike

Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Tuesday four people, one of them a toddler, were killed in an Israeli strike in the northern part of the Palestinian territory.

Violence continues to grip the war-torn Gaza Strip despite a ceasefire which came into effect on October 10, with both Israel and Hamas regularly accusing each other of violations.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency which operates as a rescue service under Gaza’s Hamas-run authority, said “four people were killed, including a child and several others were injured… in a strike targeting a police vehicle” in Gaza City.

He identified the child as three-year-old Yahya al-Mallahi.

Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital confirmed receiving the bodies of the dead.

Bassal also said another person had been killed by Israeli fire in the northern Beit Lahia area earlier on Tuesday, raising the day’s overall toll to five.

In a statement, Gaza’s interior ministry said Israeli warplanes had “targeted a police vehicle” in the city centre, “causing several deaths and injuries”.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it was looking into the details.

AFP footage showed Palestinians gathering round the body of a man which was then placed on a stretcher and carried away to be buried, through streets lined with rubble.

The October ceasefire followed more than two years of war triggered by the Palestinian Hamas movement’s October 7, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel.

At least 757 have been killed in Gaza since the truce came into effect, according to the territory’s health ministry whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army says five of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza over the same period.

Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.