JERUSALEM, June 29 - An air strike carried out by the Israeli military on Monday killed three Palestinians, including a child, in the central Gaza city of Deir al Balah, the health ministry in the Gaza Strip said.
The Gazan health ministry reported the attack occurred at about 9:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) in Deir al Balah, a part of central Gaza under Hamas control. Officials in Gaza described the strike as lethal for three people, one of whom was a child.
An Israeli military official confirmed that an air strike had been conducted, but did not provide additional details about the target, timing beyond the ministry report, or the identities of those killed.
The health ministry also said that since Saturday a total of 12 Palestinians - eight men and four children - have been killed by actions of the Israeli military. These recent fatalities are part of a pattern of strikes that Israel has carried out in Gaza despite the ceasefire that came into effect in October last year.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had killed a militant from Islamic Jihad, another armed group operating in Gaza, identifying him as someone who had participated in the October 7, 2023 attack that led to the current conflict and who had abducted Israeli civilians in that assault.
Israel has repeatedly said it conducts strikes in Gaza to target militants it says threaten Israeli soldiers operating in the territory or who were involved in the October 2023 attack. Hamas has repeatedly accused Israel of violating the ceasefire.
Nikolay Mladenov, the U.S. President Donald Trump-appointed Board of Peace envoy to Gaza, has said both parties have violated the ceasefire agreement. According to figures cited by each side, since the ceasefire took effect eight months ago, 1,045 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza.
The strike in Deir al Balah adds to a continuing pattern of intermittent violence that both sides say contravenes the terms of the October ceasefire. Details about the precise circumstances of Monday's strike, including any announced military rationale beyond the general statements made by Israel in past operations, were not provided by the Israeli official who confirmed the action.
Local health authorities supplied the casualty figures and the timing of the incident; the Israeli military confirmed an operation had taken place but withheld further specifics. The broader counts of fatalities since the ceasefire and the designation of the person killed on Sunday as an Islamic Jihad militant reflect the statistics and characterizations presented by the parties involved.