Israel kills another 9 people in Gaza, defying US ceasefire push

Nine people were killed in an Israeli strike on a police station in northern Gaza on Wednesday as Israel continues to flout US attempts to advance the ceasefire.

Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital reported the arrival of nine bodies, including a woman and a girl, and at least 20 wounded following the strike. The territory's civil defence agency confirmed the toll.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem condemned what he called Israel's "complete disregard for all calls for a ceasefire".

He said US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, which is tasked with implementing the ceasefire plan agreed last October, "bears responsibility for this escalation due to its failure to fulfill its obligations by pressuring the occupation" to abide by its commitments.

Trump's envoy Jared Kushner had said on Monday that progress towards disarming Hamas and moving forward with the Gaza peace plan could begin within a month following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The sit-down came two weeks after Hamas endorsed the latest stage of Trump's Gaza plan.

Netanyahu, however, has refused to support the roadmap, vowing not to withdraw troops until Gaza is fully demilitarised.

He has continued to allow attacks in Gaza, defying US calls for Israel to begin complying with a ceasefire it had agreed to observe in October.

Gaza health officials said Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike killed six people in the port of Gaza City, with the Israeli army saying it had targeted several Hamas commanders.

The Israeli military has killed and injured almost 5,500 people in Gaza since it the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect.

The Israeli military justified Wednesday's strike by claiming it had targeted a Hamas commander who it said had planned to carry out attacks against troops in the territory.

It said it had also struck a commander in Hamas's military wing in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip.

(AFP and TNA staff)