Israeli air strikes kill 28 in Gaza, including seven children – health officials

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, including seven children and a woman, hours after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, according to Palestinian medical officials.

One of the strikes overnight and into Thursday flattened a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken.

Two other strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid convoys.

The committees were set up by displaced Palestinians in co-ordination with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly approved resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressing support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, although they reflect world opinion.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants.

The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike killed at least one person on Thursday in the Lebanese border town of Khiam, the state news agency said, less than a day after Israeli troops handed the hilltop village back to the Lebanese army in co-ordination with UN peacekeepers,

Khiam is the first Lebanese town Israel has pulled out of since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, and marks an important test of the fragile truce.

Lebanon’s news agency did not provide details on who was killed, and the Israeli army said it was looking into reports about the strike.

Lebanese troops deployed in the northern section of the town on Thursday morning and were co-ordinating with UN peacekeepers to finalise Israel’s withdrawal before fully entering into other neighbourhoods.

An Associated Press reporter who visited Khiam on Thursday observed widespread destruction, with most houses reduced to rubble. Entire neighbourhoods were flattened, with collapsed walls and debris scattered across the streets.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, sharply criticised Israel for striking the town less than 24 hours after the Lebanese army returned, saying it was “a violation of the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, who must act to curb Israeli aggression”.

The truce was brokered by the US and France.

Israel has previously said the ceasefire deal allows it to use military force against perceived ceasefire violations. Thursday’s strike was among near-daily attacks by Israel during the ceasefire, mostly in southern Lebanon, which have killed at least 29 people and wounded 27 others.

Khiam, which sits on a ridge less than three miles from the border with Israel, saw some of the most intense fighting during the war.

US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem on Thursday that Israel’s ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for another deal to end the war in Gaza.

He plans to travel next to Qatar and Egypt – key mediators in the ceasefire talks – as the Biden administration makes a final push on negotiations before Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Mr Sullivan said “Hamas’s posture at the negotiating table did adapt” after Israel decimated the leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and reached a ceasefire there.

“We believe it puts us in a position to close this negotiation,” he said.

Mr Sullivan dismissed speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was waiting for Mr Trump to take office to finalise a deal.