Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in Gaza and destroyed two warehouses storing medicine near a hospital on Saturday, while uncertainty grows over whether Israel has accepted a U.S.-mediated deal to disarm Hamas.
Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed two people in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City. An Israeli military spokesperson said the strike targeted Hamas militants but gave no further details.
Earlier, an Israeli airstrike completely destroyed two warehouses used to store medicine by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said.
Hours later, the Israeli military said it hit a Hamas hideout near the hospital that the group used to store weapons. A military statement said the strikes were directed by the Shin Bet intelligence agency and hit other Hamas weapons depots across Gaza. The military did not provide evidence to support the claim that Hamas stored weapons at these sites.
Reuters footage from the Deir al-Balah strike showed a crater several metres wide, with debris and medical supplies scattered near a crowded tent encampment. The Palestinian health ministry said the blast also damaged two other medicine warehouses and the hospital’s outpatient clinic, though no injuries were reported.
Hospital officials said the destroyed warehouses held vital medical supplies for kidney dialysis patients, alongside items like gauze for wound care. Khalil al-Daqran, a doctor at the hospital, told Reuters that the military targeted and completely destroyed the warehouse in the middle of the night, calling the strike a heinous crime.
Witnesses said the military sent an evacuation warning before striking the area. Hospitals and civilian sites are protected under international humanitarian law, but can lose this status if used for military purposes. The Israeli military maintains that Hamas operates from civilian facilities, including hospitals.
Israel has kept up its strikes on Gaza since agreeing to a U.S.-mediated ceasefire last October, killing 1,222 Palestinians over the past nine months, according to Palestinian health officials who said many of the dead are women and children. Hamas rarely confirms its casualties.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his plan to end the war had reached a breakthrough, claiming Hamas agreed to lay down its weapons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet commented publicly, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the agreement unacceptable and said Israel must continue assassinating Hamas leaders.
(Reuters)
