Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in Gaza near the line demarcating areas of Israeli control on Monday, highlighting the difficulty of expanding a fragile ceasefire agreement approved more than six weeks ago and acclaimed worldwide.
Palestinian doctors said Monday’s incidents involved an Israeli drone that fired a missile at a group of people east of Khan Younis, killing two and wounding another, and a tank shell that killed one person on the east side of Gaza City.
Israel’s military said it fired after identifying what it called ‘terrorists’ crossing the so-called yellow line and approaching its troops, posing an immediate threat to them.
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The Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel signed a truce on October 9, ending two years of devastating war, but the agreement left the most complex disputes for future talks, freezing the conflict without resolving it.
Since then, both sides have accused each other of deadly violations of existing commitments in the deal and of backtracking on further steps required by US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Monday that at least 342 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the truce. Israel says three of its soldiers were killed by militant gunfire in the same period.
Last week, the United Nations Security Council gave formal support to Trump’s plan, which calls for an interim technocratic Palestinian government in Gaza, overseen by an international ‘peace council’ and supported by an international security force.
Trump’s plan also calls for reform of the Palestinian Authority (PA), based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who helped the US develop the plan and who Trump has said may join the peace council, met with PA deputy leader Hussein al-Sheikh in the West Bank on Sunday.
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Sheikh said in a social media post that they discussed developments following the Security Council resolution and the requirements for Palestinian self-determination.
Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation in Cairo, led by its exiled chief Khalil al-Hayya, held talks with Egyptian officials about exploring the next phase of the ceasefire, according to Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Alex Cornwell in Jerusalem)
