CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli planes and tanks pounded areas in eastern Gaza on Thursday, Palestinian residents and witnesses said, a day after Israel said it remained committed to a U.S.-backed ceasefire despite launching more lethal bombardments in the territory.
Witnesses said Israeli planes carried out 10 airstrikes in areas east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, while tanks shelled areas east of Gaza City in the north. No injuries or deaths were reported.
The Israeli military said it carried out “precise” strikes against “terrorist infrastructure that posed a threat to the troops” in the areas, which Israel still occupies.
Thursday’s strikes are the latest test of the fragile ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Witnesses in Gaza said they did not see strikes outside of the area Israel controls.
From Tuesday into Wednesday, Israel retaliated for the death of an Israeli soldier with bombardments that Gaza health authorities said killed 104 people.
Israel says the soldier was killed in an attack by gunmen on territory within the so-called “yellow line” to which its troops withdrew under the ceasefire. Hamas has rejected the accusation.
The Israeli military issued a list of 26 militants it said it had targeted during the bombardment earlier this week, including one it said was a Hamas commander who participated in the October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel that ignited the war.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israel’s list was part of a “systematic campaign of misinformation” to cover up “crimes against civilians in Gaza”.
The Gaza health ministry said 46 children and 20 women were among the 104 people killed in the airstrikes.
Sources close to international efforts to sustain the ceasefire said U.S. and regional mediators swiftly intervened to restore calm as Israel and Hamas traded blame.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Pesha Magid in Jerusalem; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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