By Blessing Nweke
Israeli forces killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, including two 13-year-old boys, three journalists and a woman, according to hospital officials, marking one of the deadliest days since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in October. The violence came as the United States sought to push forward negotiations aimed at implementing a more difficult second phase of the truce.
Among the dead were three Palestinian journalists who were filming near a newly established displacement camp in central Gaza. Mohammed Mansour, a spokesperson for the Egyptian government committee managing the camp, said the journalists were documenting humanitarian work when an Israeli strike hit their vehicle about three miles from an Israeli-controlled area. Video circulating online showed the vehicle burned and smoking. Israel’s military said it had targeted suspects operating a drone it viewed as a threat to troops.
One of the journalists killed, Abdul Raouf Shaat, was a regular contributor to Agence France-Presse. AFP said he was not on assignment at the time and demanded a full investigation, describing him as a “kind-hearted colleague.”
Two boys were killed in separate incidents. In one, a 13-year-old boy, his father and another man were struck by Israeli drones near the Bureij refugee camp, hospital officials said. In another case, a 13-year-old identified as Moatsem al-Sharafy was shot in the town of Bani Suheila. His mother said he had gone out to gather firewood so she could cook.
Hospitals also reported the death of a woman shot in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis and three brothers killed in tank shelling in Bureij.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 470 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire began, figures generally considered reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has largely barred international journalists from entering Gaza, leaving local reporters to document the war at great personal risk.
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