Israeli airstrike kills nine people in north Gaza town, medics say, amid ceasefire disputes

Northern Gaza Strip March 15, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
At least nine Palestinians were killed, including two local
journalists, and others were wounded on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza's
northern Beit Lahiya town, Gaza's health ministry said, as Hamas's leaders held
Gaza ceasefire talks with mediators in Cairo.
Several were critically injured as the strike hit a car, with casualties inside and outside the vehicle, health officials told Reuters.
Witnesses and fellow journalists said the people in the car
were on a mission for a charity called Al-Khair Foundation in Beit Lahiya, and
they were accompanied by journalists and photographers when the strike hit
them. At least three local journalists were among the dead, according to
Palestinian media.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had struck
two individuals that it identified as "terrorists" operating a drone
that it said posed a threat to forces in Beit Lahiya.
The military later struck several other suspects who it said
had collected the drone equipment and entered a vehicle.
The military did not say how it had determined that the
individuals it had struck were "terrorists" or provide detail on the
threat that the done had posed to its soldiers.
The incident underscores the fragility of the January 19
ceasefire agreement that halted large-scale fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian health officials say dozens of people have been killed by Israeli
fire despite the truce.
Commenting on the latest deaths, the Islamist Hamas group
accused Israel in a statement of attempting to renege on the ceasefire
agreement, putting the number of Palestinians killed since January 19 at 150.
It urged mediators to compel Israel to move ahead with the
implementation of the phased ceasefire deal, blaming Israel's Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu for the current impasse.
Responding to some of the incidents reported by Gaza medics,
the Israeli military says its forces have intervened to thwart threats by
"terrorists" approaching its forces or planting bombs on the ground
near where forces operate.
Since a temporary first phase of the ceasefire expired on
March 2, Israel has rejected opening the second phase of talks, which would
require it to negotiate over a permanent end to the war, the main demand of
Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The incident coincided with a visit by Hamas's exiled Gaza
chief, Khalil Al-Hayya, to Cairo for further ceasefire talks aimed at resolving
disputes with Israel that could risk a resumption of fighting in the enclave.
On Friday, Hamas said it had agreed to free an
American-Israeli dual national if Israel begins the next phase of ceasefire
talks towards a permanent end to the war, an offer Israel dismissed as
"psychological warfare."
Hamas said it had made the offer to release New Jersey
native Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli army, after
receiving a proposal from mediators for negotiations on the second phase of a
ceasefire deal.
Israel says it wants to extend the ceasefire's temporary
first phase, a proposal backed by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. Hamas says it will
resume freeing hostages only under the second phase.
The war began when Hamas carried out a cross-border raid
into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing 251
hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed more than
48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and reduced much of
the territory to rubble and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that
Israel denies.
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