Israeli strikes kill 15 in Gaza despite truce

Israeli minister says no deal to halt attacks

JERUSALEM/CAIRO:

Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza for a second straight day on Sunday, killing at least 15 Palestinians, medics said, despite US President Donald Trump's announcement of a breakthrough ?in efforts to implement last year's ceasefire agreement.

From dawn, Israeli warplanes hit Gaza City in the north, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the southern area of Khan Younis, causing the biggest daily death toll in weeks, according to Palestinian ?health officials.

Trump's assertion on Thursday that Palestinian Hamas militants and other armed groups had agreed to disarm had raised hopes of a turning point in efforts to end the conflict.

On Sunday, Israeli Energy Minister Eli ?Cohen - a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet - said the government would give Hamas the opportunity to disarm but that he was "very sceptical" that would happen.

Cohen told Israel's Army Radio there had been no deal to halt attacks on Gaza and that he saw a need for Israel – which already controls 70% of the enclave - to take full control of it if Hamas did not disarm. "In the deal we signed with the United States, our stance is that ?Hamas must be dismantled.

This is the first thing that must happen," he added.

Attacks hit Gaza

Strikes on Deir al-Balah killed at least four people, Palestinian health officials said, and a separate attack wounded five people and set some tents ablaze in Mawasi near Khan Younis, according to the civil emergencyservice.

A couple and their 9-year-old son were killed in a strike on a house in Mawasi, Palestinian officials said. Another couple was killed with their child in ?a strike on an apartment in Gaza City, where two more people died in a strike on a tent near the office of the Egyptian representative mission, medics said.

Later on Sunday another two people were killed in the city's eastern Zeitoun neighbourhood, they added. One person was killed near Jabalia in northern Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

The Israeli military said a strike on an apartment in Deir al-Balah was targeting two commanders of Hamas' elite "Nukhba" force. The Gaza City and Jabalia strikes also targeted "military operatives" but the military was still reviewing the situation, it added.

At least 1,230 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a ceasefire was reached in October, according to Gaza health authorities. Hamas does not disclose figures on its war dead. Four Israeli soldiers were killed over the same period, according to Israeli tallies.