The Israeli army renewed its strikes across multiple areas in the battered Gaza Strip early Friday, with the second stage of a fragile ceasefire agreement yet to commence.
Citing eyewitnesses, Anadolu Agency said military aircraft and drones carried out air raids in the northern part of Gaza City, while heavy artillery struck the eastern outskirts of the Bureij refugee camp in the Strip’s centre, as well as eastern parts of Khan Younis in the south.
It was not immediately clear what the Israeli army was targeting as some of the affected locations are under Israeli control, Anadolu reported.
Israeli forces continue to occupy more than half of the Palestinian territory, frequently killing civilians who have inadvertently crossed the vague "Yellow Line."
Friday’s bombardment comes after at least 14 people were killed on Thursday when Israeli forces struck displaced persons' tents, homes, and an emergency shelter in the enclave.
Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 71,380 people and wounded more than 171,000 others since October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry. Over 400 people have been killed since the ceasefire began, amid Israel's near-daily violations.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire which came into effect in October last year, Israel was meant allow sufficient amounts of desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza but continues to block its entry amid malnutrition in the territory.
The first phase of the ceasefire saw Hamas release all living captives and the remains of all but one deceased captive, whose body has not yet been recovered from beneath the rubble left by Israel’s relentless war.
Israel released around 2,000 Palestinian detainees, but around 9,300 remain in its jails, where they face torture, abuse and starvation.
Efforts to begin the second phase of the deal have been slow. Under US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan, this will be overseen by a "Board of Peace" chaired by Trump himself.
It is meant to see Israeli forces pull out of Gaza, and the formation of a transitional government without Hamas involvement, aw well as the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in the enclave.
The disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza is also supposed to happen under the deal, but the issue remains a major sticking point.
Several Israeli officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have called for a renewed invasion of Gaza and resettlement of Jewish Israeli settlers there.
Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday had stressed that his leadership will not accept the division of the Gaza Strip nor recognise any legitimacy of Israeli control over any part of it.
During the opening session of the 13th Revolutionary Council of the Fatah movement in Ramallah, Abbas stressed that a future Palestinian state must encompass Gaza, and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as a single geographic, political and legal unit.
He said the foremost priority remains consolidating the ceasefire in Gaza and urgently delivering humanitarian aid to the population, which is reeling under harsh winter conditions that have claimed the lives of several children.
Abbas reiterated support for the second phase of the peace plan proposed by Trump, emphasisng that an interim government should be fully accountable to the Palestinian Authority, and that reconstruction and political progress must proceed without the displacement of Gaza’s population.
Israel has opened the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for Gazans wishing to exit the enclave, but not for those wishing to enter again, igniting fears of displacement amid warnings from Cairo.