2 children among 4 killed in Gaza a week after US asked Israel to curb attacks

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian residents of war-battered Gaza fled homes and businesses as Israeli strikes and tank fire killed at least four people Monday, including two children, hospital officials said, a week after a U.S. delegation asked Israel to draw down attacks.

After evacuation warnings by Israel's military, a strike hit a building in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. One family was unable to flee and a 4-year-old child was killed, according to Awda Hospital, where he was taken. His mother and sister were wounded. There was no Israeli military comment.

Israeli strikes hit three other buildings across the territory after residents said they received evacuation warnings. Some people sprinted away, with mothers carrying children, while others moved amid the rubble in wheelchairs or with canes.

Smoke rose over the already devastated landscape.

Israel's military said it carried out strikes in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City and in Deir al-Balah after issuing warnings, targeting what it described as two Hamas weapons storage facilities inside mosques. The military did not provide evidence but said the facilities contained dozens of “dozens of Kalashnikov rifles, magazines and additional military equipment.”

An earlier Israeli strike on a tent in Deir al-Balah killed a man, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where his body was taken. Israel’s military said it killed a militant affiliated with Hamas’ special forces unit.

A man was killed and five others were wounded in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties.

And Israeli tank fire hit an area east of Khan Younis, killing a 10-year-old girl, according to the hospital, where her body was taken.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on the strike in Khan Younis and said it was not aware of the incident with the child.

Israel has continued to carry out targeted killings in the week since a U.S. delegation met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to push last year's ceasefire deal forward.

U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner asked Netanyahu to draw down Israel’s attacks in Gaza, a person familiar with the meeting said last week, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief journalists.

Israel has announced strikes on six of the seven days since that meeting.

While the heaviest fighting in Gaza has subsided since the ceasefire took hold in October, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 1,288 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on Israeli troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other ceasefire violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

Palestinian officials have reported strikes on homes and police stations, and Hamas has claimed that attacks are designed to destabilize Gaza and prevent progress on the ceasefire's next steps, which include demilitarizing and reconstructing the territory and the deployment of an international stabilization force .

In the period before the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, burning kites and balloons were sent from Gaza into Israel, causing fires and other damage.

Now Israeli officials are expressing concern after several kites were found in a kibbutz near Gaza. No weapons or dangerous materials were attached. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement Sunday threatened to ramp up strikes on Gaza unless Hamas ensures the kites stop flying toward Israel.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem has called the kites “essentially children’s toys” and accused Israel of using them as “an attempt to justify the continuation of aggression and violations against our people.”

The Oct. 7 attack killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. All hostages or their remains were later released. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,422 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

AlJoud reported from Beirut. AP writer Sam Metz in Jerusalem contributed to this report.