The Israeli occupation army carried out airstrikes on Tuesday evening inside areas under its control east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, in parallel with ongoing demolition operations targeting buildings and facilities in various locations in the northern part of the enclave.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that artillery shelling struck areas east of Khan Younis, while an Israeli military helicopter opened heavy fire north and east of Rafah in the southern sector.
Further north, the occupation army detonated buildings and facilities in areas where its forces are stationed in Beit Lahia. Earlier on Tuesday, similar explosions were reported in the Shuja’iyya and Zaytoun neighbourhoods east of Gaza City, according to local sources.
In central Gaza, a child sustained moderate injuries in the Qastal Towers area east of Deir al Balah after being shot by Israeli military vehicles, a medical source told Anadolu.
These attacks came despite the enforced ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the occupation state, which has been in effect since 10 October. However, the latter continues to violate the agreement by targeting Palestinians outside the areas from which it withdrew under the terms of the accord, resulting in martyrs and injuries.
The agreement was intended to halt the genocide that began on 8 October 2023, which has resulted in more than seventy thousand Palestinian martyrs, over one hundred seventy one thousand wounded, the majority of them children and women, along with widespread destruction. The United Nations has estimated the reconstruction cost at around seventy billion dollars.
In parallel, a senior leader in the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas affirmed that the movement requires an end to Israeli violations before the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza can begin, urging mediators to pressure the occupation state.
Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told Agence France Presse: “Any discussion regarding the start of the second phase must be preceded clearly by pressure from mediators and guarantors, including the United States, to ensure the occupation fully implements all provisions of the first phase”.
