Gaza authorities say Israeli strikes kill five

Gaza authorities said Israeli strikes killed five people in the territory on Friday, including three members of one family in Al-Qarara, east of Khan Yunis.

The civil defence agency, which serves as a rescue service under Hamas authority, said the bodies of three people were recovered after Israeli strikes in Al-Qarara. Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis named the three dead and said two were aged 42 and one was 28.

An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP the military was looking into the Al-Qarara incident.

Gaza authorities later reported two additional deaths, including one in a drone attack near Gaza City.

The deaths came the same day that Israel carried out a rare airstrike in the occupied West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that strike killed militants planning attacks from the Palestinian territory.

Israel has continued striking the Gaza Strip and its forces have made further inroads despite a US-brokered ceasefire announced in October. Israel says it must eliminate threats from Hamas, which led the October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the Board of Peace established by President Donald Trump to implement the deal, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that deadly Israeli strikes made it hard for people in Gaza to feel the ceasefire, which he said was still holding.

Mladenov said Hamas also had not fulfilled commitments including disarmament, although the group promised late last month to do so.

Israel has warned that it will retaliate for kites flown from Gaza after several crossed into Israel. The latest kites did not contain explosives, although at least one reportedly had a political message. Israeli media quoted Defence Minister Israel Katz as saying Thursday that any launch would be treated as terrorism.