Israeli strikes kill at least 10 Palestinians in Gaza

Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the bombardment took place at a busy time near a park crowded with civilians, including children. Earlier on Wednesday, a strike on Nuseirat refugee camp killed one Palestinian, medics said.

The Israeli army said its air force struck two Hamas commanders in Nuseirat and later struck a Hamas commander in the Tuffah area of Gaza City. It did not provide evidence of their affiliation. Hamas rejected Israel’s justification that the strike targeted “resistance leaders”, calling the claim “baseless and false allegations used to justify its aggression and cover up its deliberate targeting of civilian police and unarmed civilians”.

Hamas accused the Israeli government of “deliberately undermining these efforts and dangerously pushing towards reigniting the war of extermination against our people in the Gaza Strip”. The attacks came two days after Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push a Trump-backed Gaza deal; the meeting failed to break a deadlock after Netanyahu rejected a withdrawal-for-disarmament agreement. Kushner later reiterated “Israel’s right to defend itself” and said Hamas must disarm or the United States would support Israel to “finish the job in the appropriate way”.