Israeli strikes kill nine in Gaza

Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least nine Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, July 8, including two children, health officials and medics said. The dead included a 10-year-old child killed when an airstrike hit a tent for displaced people in al-Mawasi near Khan Younis, and a 6-year-old boy killed by Israeli gunfire in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Reuters. (usnews.com) Twelve other people were wounded in two of the incidents, medics said. The Israeli military said it struck militants in Gaza City and said it was not aware of casualties in one of the reported incidents. Other strikes in Gaza City killed three more people, medics said, while the military did not immediately comment on those attacks. (aljazeera.com) The deaths came during a ceasefire period that Reuters said has still seen repeated Israeli strikes and shootings across the enclave. ### Where were the people killed? Gaza City and Khan Younis were the main locations cited in Wednesday’s attacks. Reuters said one person was killed near a school in Gaza City, while the strike on a displacement tent in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza killed at least four people, including the 10-year-old. (usnews.com) Later the same day, the 6-year-old boy was killed in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district. NBC News, citing local hospital officials in a separate June incident, described a pattern of multiple strikes hitting residential buildings in Gaza City during the current ceasefire period. That report said Shifa Hospital had received nine bodies from four separate strikes and that the victims included two children. (usnews.com) ### What did Israel say about the strikes? The Israeli military said it had struck militants in Gaza City and said it was unaware of casualties from that incident, according to Reuters. For the other reported strikes and shootings on July 8, Reuters said the military did not immediately comment. (usnews.com) Israel has said it continues to target militants who threaten its forces or who took part in the October 2023 attack on Israel. Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. Reuters said Nikolay Mladenov, President Donald Trump’s appointed Board of Peace envoy to Gaza, has said both sides have violated the agreement. (nbcnews.com) ### How fragile is the ceasefire now? Reuters said that since the ceasefire took effect nine months ago, more than 1,080 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, according to figures released by the two sides. Hamas does not disclose how many of its dead were fighters, Reuters said. (usnews.com) NBC News, citing Gaza’s Health Ministry, separately reported that more than 936 people had been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire took effect. The ministry is part of the Hamas-led government and does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its public death tolls. (usnews.com) ### What changed politically inside Gaza this week? July 6 brought a separate political shift when Hamas announced the dissolution of the body that had governed Gaza for nearly two decades. Al Jazeera, citing a statement from Gaza’s Government Media Office, said Mohammed al-Farra, head of the government’s emergency committee, submitted his resignation and announced the dissolution of the committee to facilitate an administrative transition. (usnews.com) Al Jazeera said the handover is to a technocratic body referred to as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. A July 8 timeline published by the outlet said the move formally transfers administrative authority away from Hamas’s emergency government structure. (nbcnews.com) ### What comes next on the ground? The next immediate developments are likely to come from Gaza hospitals, local health officials and the Israeli military, which have been the first public sources for casualty counts and strike claims in recent incidents. Reuters said the military had not immediately commented on several of the July 8 attacks, leaving parts of the day’s sequence still contested. (aljazeera.com) July 9 coverage from Al Jazeera’s Gaza live file continued to track both the fatalities from the latest strikes and the administrative transition after Hamas’s July 6 announcement. That is where the next named updates on casualties, local governance and any Israeli response are likely to appear first. (aljazeera.com 1) (aljazeera.com 2) (usnews.com)