A Palestinian child was killed, and several others were wounded on Monday after Israeli naval gunboats shelled tents housing displaced civilians in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medical sources said.
Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis received the body of a three-year-old boy along with several injured people after Israeli gunboats fired shells at displacement tents along the coast in the al-Iqlimi area of al-Mawasi, the medical sources reported.
Separately, witnesses said Israeli military vehicles positioned east of the so-called Yellow Line, east of Khan Younis, opened heavy fire toward nearby areas.
The Yellow Line separates areas where Israeli forces are deployed, covering more than 50 percent of eastern Gaza, from western areas where Palestinians are allowed to move. The line is considered temporary under the first phase of an October 10 ceasefire agreement, which calls for broader Israeli withdrawals leading to a full pullout from the besieged Palestinian territory.
Witnesses also said Israeli forces carried out demolition operations targeting buildings and facilities in the southern city of Rafah and in central Gaza.
Israel has continued to commit hundreds of ceasefire violations since the ceasefire, including shelling and gunfire that have killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinian civilians.
The violations have continued despite the US administration’s announcement in January that the second phase of the ceasefire agreement had begun. That phase includes additional Israeli withdrawals from Gaza and the launch of reconstruction efforts, which the United Nations estimates will cost about $70 billion.
The ceasefire ended an Israeli offensive that began October 8, 2023, and lasted two years, killing more than 71,000 Palestinians and wounding over 171,000 others, while destroying about 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure.
