Hamas spokesman accuses Israel of violating ceasefire after deadly strikes

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Tuesday accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement after several residents of the Gaza Strip were killed in Israeli strikes and gunfire, according to multiple Palestinian media outlets.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Israeli army’s actions constituted “a clear violation of the ceasefire,” following reports of civilian deaths in different parts of Gaza.

“The Israeli occupation army’s killing of a number of Gaza Strip residents this morning through shelling and gunfire is a violation of the ceasefire agreement,” Qassem said, as quoted by the Quds News Network. He called on mediators to monitor Israel’s conduct and “prevent it from evading its commitments to end the war on the Gaza Strip.”

According to the Palestinian Information Center, five people were killed when Israeli drones fired on residents inspecting their homes in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.

The Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) reported that one person was killed and another wounded in a drone strike on the town of Al-Fakhari, east of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. It added that several others were injured in an Israeli attack on the Halawa camp for displaced persons in Jabalia al-Balad, in the north.

Separately, the Safa News Agency said Israeli forces opened fire on Tuesday morning northwest of Rafah, in southern Gaza, despite the ceasefire remaining in effect.

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