Gaza Israeli fire kills five, rescuers say

Israeli strikes and gunfire killed five people across Gaza on Thursday, including a woman and a 12-year-old boy, rescue services in the Palestinian territory said.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, said the 12-year-old boy was killed by Israeli gunfire east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. A few kilometres away, near Al-Zawayda, two people were killed in separate Israeli strikes, he said.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said all three were dead on arrival.

In southern Gaza, Bassal said a woman was killed by Israeli gunfire near Khan Yunis. Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis confirmed her death.

Later on Thursday, Bassal said one person was killed and several others injured in an Israeli drone strike west of Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it had struck “terrorists” in the Al-Zawayda area and west of Gaza City, and said it was looking into reports concerning the woman killed near Khan Yunis.

Israel and Hamas regularly accuse each other of violating the ceasefire that came into effect in October 2025, after two years of war triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations, says Israeli forces have killed more than 1,600 people since the ceasefire was announced a year ago. The Israeli army has identified seven deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor killed.