Israeli airstrike kills 9 Palestinians in northern Gaza

A strike by Israeli planes on the northern Gaza Strip has killed at least nine Palestinians, including three journalists from the area, doctors say.
On Saturday, the attack hit a car in the town of Beit Lahiya in the north.

The medics report that both inside and outside of the vehicle, several people suffered serious injuries.

“Nine martyrs have been transferred (to the hospital), including several journalists and several workers from the Al-Khair Charitable Organization, as a result of the occupation targeting a vehicle with a drone in the town of Beit Lahia, coinciding with artillery shelling on the same area,” Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.

Witnesses and other reporters reported that the individuals in the car were on a mission for a local charity. When the strike hit, there were reporters and photographers with them.

The event happened while Khalil Al-Hayya, the leader of Hamas who is currently living in exile, was in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, talking with mediators about ending the fighting in Gaza.

Israeli troops have broken the ceasefire agreement many times since January 19. Health workers in the West Bank say that dozens of people have been killed by Israeli fire despite the cease-fire.

The Beit Lahiya killing was a clear breach of the ceasefire agreement. At the Beit Lahiya killing, Hamas called it a “horrific massacre” and said it was part of the Israeli occupation’s “war crimes against our people.”

It said in a statement that the attack on the town in the north was “clearly against the ceasefire agreement.” “This criminal escalation, including the deliberate killings and brutal bombardments across Gaza, reaffirms the occupation’s intent to backtrack on the ceasefire agreement.”

Hamas says that since the ceasefire began on January 19, Israel’s military has killed more than 150 people.

Hamas asked the mediators to “act quickly and put pressure on war criminal Netanyahu to stick to what was agreed upon and move forward with the ceasefire phases and the prisoner exchange.”