Israeli Strikes Kill at Least Three People in Gaza on Monday, Medics Say

Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians and wounded several others in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the territory's health officials said, in a Reuters dispatch read in full by this desk. Medics said two people were killed and six others wounded in two separate airstrikes in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, while a third person was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the town of Al-Mussadar.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on any of the attacks, Reuters reported. Israel, which says the Hamas militant group has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of a year-old ceasefire, has stepped up strikes on the group in recent weeks. Hamas has denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal and accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza peace deal.

Last year's U.S.-brokered ceasefire calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory, but little progress has been made as negotiators have failed to agree on terms for Hamas to disarm or Israel to withdraw its troops, who control about two-thirds of the territory, Reuters reported. Nearly all of the more than 2 million residents live in the remaining third of the enclave, mostly in makeshift tents and damaged buildings.

At least 1,580 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since the ceasefire, according to the territory's health officials, while Israel says four soldiers have been killed, Reuters reported. Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. This is a major international story carried under the network's national-news door; no Newark or Essex County connection was reported, and none is claimed here.