An Israeli air strike has killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza, as mediators met leaders from Palestinian resistance group Hamas in an effort to shore up a US-brokered ceasefire deal.
Medics said on Monday that the strike had hit a group of men outside a school in Deir al Balah in Gaza. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.
At Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah, the bodies of those killed lay on the ground in white shrouds outside the morgue as relatives and friends arrived to bid them farewell. Some kissed the victims' foreheads before holding special prayers.
“This isn’t a truce; it’s a trap for our young men. Every day there are martyrs, every single day. How long can this continue?” said Umm Hussam Abu El-Rous, a female relative of one of the victims.
“Isn't it unjust that a three-year-old child is afraid of seeing his (dead) father? He says, 'My father went to bring me something from the shop,'" she added.
The Israeli military has continued to violate the ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, through shelling and gunfire that have caused more deaths and injuries.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 750 people have been killed and 2,090 others injured since the ceasefire, while 760 bodies have been recovered.
Implementing second phase deal
The violence comes as leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian factions have been meeting since Saturday in Cairo with mediators from Egypt, Türkiye, and Qatar to discuss implementing the second phase of the Gaza deal.
Under a plan put forward by US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, Hamas would be required to lay down its arms in stages over eight months after a US-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats takes control in Gaza.
Two officials close to the latest talks said Hamas told mediators that discussions on disarmament could only move forward after Israel fully implements the first phase of Trump's October deal, which includes a complete ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel launched a genocide in Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 Palestinians, wounding around 172,000, and devastating about 90 percent of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure.
