Israel kills nine Palestinians just hours after Gaza truce begins

Nine Palestinian civilians have died since the Gaza ceasefire came into effect, health officials said on Tuesday, as the death toll from Israel's devastating two-year war continues to rise. 

Seven people were killed earlier Tuesday, while two others succumbed to their wounds from previous Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

An Israeli drone killed five Palestinians when they were inspecting their homes in the Shujayea neighbourhood on Tuesday.

That day, the Israeli military confirmed that it killed a number of individuals, claiming, without providing evidence, they were approaching soldiers.

"A number of suspects were identified who crossed the Yellow Line and approached IDF forces operating in the northern Gaza Strip, which constitutes a violation of the agreement," a Telegram statement from the army read.

A source in Gaza’s Emergency Services also said Palestinians were also wounded after Israeli forces opened fire in the Halawa area of Jabalia on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, two Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, sources from the Nasser Medical Complex said.

The latest development comes as Gaza’s Civil Defence crews told reporters that since the truce started, workers had started to uncover bodies trapped under the rubble.

The civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, said that teams have recovered over 250 bodies since the war ended, and that many of them were lying in the streets, in comments made to Al-Jazeera.

A major shortage of heavy equipment was hampering the ability of the teams from reaching the living and the dead trapped under the rubble, he said.

Gaza is also riddled with explosive material and the remnants of weapons, which again pose a threat to the lives of civilians, the emergency group said.

Over 80 per cent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed by Israel, the UN Development Programme said on Tuesday, with the figure standing at 92 per cent in Gaza City, which was subject to a final Israeli assault this month.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 67,000 Palestinians and has been determined to be a genocide by leading rights groups, including Amnesty International.

Israel’s obstruction of emergency aid throughout the war triggered a famine in the enclave, which resulted in the death of at least 400 people.