Israeli airstrikes in a residential Gaza neighborhood on Tuesday killed a teenager and a Civil Defense rescue service worker, according to a local official, amid mounting international pressure on Israel to halt its attacks in the enclave.
The Israeli military said that it had “directed an attack against Hamas terrorists” and that the outcome in the Gaza City attack was “under review.” The Israeli operation in Gaza followed strikes in the past day that the military said had killed Hamas militants.
On Tuesday, an Israeli drone strike in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City killed a teenager, identified as Mohammed al-Zinati, 15, and wounded other people, a member of the civil defense team, Motaz Ayyoub, said in a phone interview.
A second drone strike less than a minute later killed Sharif Labad, a civil defense worker who was not on duty but had rushed to the scene, Mr. Ayyoub said. He said that he and Mr. Labad had been planning to meet and attend a wedding when his friend responded to the earlier strike.
“We are now in the mosque to do the funeral prayer,” Mr. Ayyoub said.
In separate statements on Tuesday, the Israeli military said that it had killed a Hamas commander in the northern Gaza Strip overnight and that it had killed two Hamas operatives on Monday, one in the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza and another in Gaza City.
Late on Tuesday, the Israeli military also said it struck “a senior Hamas terrorist” in the southern Gaza Strip. The office of Israel’s prime minister and minister of defense said in a joint statement that the strike had targeted the commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade and vowed that “Hamas will not remain in Gaza.”
Israel has continued to carry out deadly strikes in Gaza over the past six weeks, despite efforts by President Trump’s Board of Peace to halt the attacks following its announcement in late July that Hamas had agreed to surrender its weapons. Under the disarmament framework, Israel was expected to halt its military operations in Gaza except in cases of immediate self-defense, but Israeli officials rejected the agreement.
A senior Board of Peace official recently criticized Israel’s continuing strikes during a speech at the United Nations, saying that they did not serve Israeli interests and only delayed the demilitarization of Gaza.
The Israeli military operations in Gaza are taking place as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is campaigning for re-election and portraying himself as key to the country’s security. Jared Kushner, the Trump envoy and son-in-law who has been working with the Board of Peace on plans for Gaza, said earlier this month that Mr. Netanyahu’s government was acting “a little irrational” ahead of the election.
Volker Turk, the United Nations human rights chief, called on Tuesday for international investigators to be allowed into all parts of Gaza to recover the remains of Palestinians still buried under rubble, and to help gather evidence of potential war crimes.
He said in a statement on social media that remains believed to be from 96 people from three Palestinian families were recovered this month, including many women and children. Noting that Palestinian officials have estimated that thousands of people may still be buried under rubble, he said the findings so far “may only be the tip of the iceberg” because “much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives.”
Doctors Without Borders said on Sunday said that one of its humanitarian vehicles was damaged and an aid worker injured when an Israeli strike in Gaza City targeted a vehicle less than seven feet away from them. The group said in a post on social media that the aid vehicle was clearly identified and accused Israeli forces of showing “a blatant disregard for the safety of humanitarian and medical personnel.”
“Nowhere is safe in Gaza,” Doctors Without Borders said, calling for civilians, health care workers and other humanitarian staff to be protected.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the attack in Gaza City on Sunday had targeted and killed two Hamas military wing operatives. The Israeli military said that it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians, including using “precise munitions and aerial surveillance.”
The Israeli military’s prosecution of the war in Gaza has come under further scrutiny in the past week after “NAZA,” a documentary about Palestinian civilian deaths in the war, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. The Israeli directors received a 25-minute standing ovation and won the Special Jury Prize, but faced an official backlash at home.
The Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, consulted on Monday with top generals about how to respond to the film, saying it was based on “deliberate distortions of reality.”
On Tuesday, at a ceremony marking the start of the Jewish New Year, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, who leads the military’s southern command, insisted on the importance of “maintaining the integrity of our own conduct, distinguishing between the enemy and those who are not involved in the hostilities.” He said this required the military to examine itself and “correct what must be corrected.”
But General Asor also said that Israeli forces would continue to operate in Gaza “to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its capabilities.”
