Israeli strikes kill three people in Gaza, medics say

Israeli airstrikes killed at least three Palestinians in the ​Gaza Strip on Saturday, health officials said.

One strike near Jabalia refugee camp ‌in northern Gaza killed Basir Al-Bursh, the son of Munir Al-Bursh, the territory’s health ministry director-general, medics and family members said.

The Israeli military said it had struck several militants on Saturday, including Basir Al-Bursh, without giving ​further information. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, did not immediately ​comment.

Munir Al-Bursh lost a daughter in an Israeli airstrike in December 2023, according ⁠to family members and medics. He was wounded in that attack.

In video obtained by ​Reuters, Al-Bursh was seen carrying his son’s body, wrapped in a blanket, with other mourners as ​it was rushed to hospital by ambulance.

“I was with him in the tent, and he said, Dad, they will target us, you and me together, I said that is fine, we will go to heaven together,” ​said Al-Bursh in the video.

“He went outside the tent and they struck him and he ​was martyred, may God have mercy on him,” added Al-Bursh.

At Al Shifa Hospital, Al-Bursh could barely stand ‌as mourners ⁠arrived to pay their respects.

Elsewhere, a strike killed a man in Shejaia, east of Gaza City, while another hit a vehicle in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City, killing one person, the civil defence service and medics said, taking Saturday’s death toll to at least ​three.

The Israeli military said ​the Sheikh Radwan strike ⁠targeted a Hamas militant. The blast reduced the vehicle to a mangled wreck.

Palestinian authorities say more than 73,000 people have been killed in ​Israel’s assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 ​people in southern ⁠Israel in October 2023.

A US-brokered ceasefire agreed last year calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory, but little progress has been made as negotiators have failed to agree terms for Hamas to ⁠disarm ​and Israel to withdraw its troops.

More than 1,300 Palestinians, mostly ​civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s health officials, while the ​Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.