Israel again violates Gaza truce in new attack, as UN and aid groups warn operations at risk
Gaza health officials say at least 10 Palestinians were wounded in the attack, which Israel said it was investigating.
Israel's army said troops fired a mortar shell into a Palestinian residential area in besieged Gaza, in the latest attack to violate the fragile ceasefire.
Health officials said on Wednesday that at least 10 people were wounded, and the army said it was investigating.
The military said the mortar was fired during an attack in the area of the so-called "Yellow Line," which was drawn in the ceasefire agreement that divides the Israeli-occupied majority of Gaza from the rest of the territory.
The military did not say what troops were doing or whether they had crossed the line. It said the mortar had veered from its intended target, which it did not specify.
Fadel Naeem, director of Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, said the hospital received 10 people wounded in the attack.
It was not the first time since the ceasefire took effect on October 10 that Israel killed Palestinians. Palestinian health officials have reported over 370 deaths from Israeli fire since the truce.
Aid operations at risk
Meanwhile, the United Nations and aid groups warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a "vague, arbitrary, and highly politicised" registration process.
Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days, said the UN and more than 200 local and international aid groups in a joint statement.
"The deregistration of INGOs (international aid groups) in Gaza will have a catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services," the statement read.
"INGOs run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary healthcare centres, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilisation centres for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities," it said.
"The UN will not be able to compensate for the collapse of INGOs' operations if they are de-registered, and the humanitarian response cannot be replaced by alternative actors operating outside established humanitarian principles."
The statement stressed "humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political," adding: "Lifesaving assistance must be allowed to reach Palestinians without further delay."