Two killed in Khan Younis and Gaza City in Israeli strikes, Wafa reports

Two Palestinians were killed on Thursday in the Gaza Strip in two separate Israeli strikes. The report comes from the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The first case concerns the al-Amal neighbourhood west of Khan Younis. According to Wafa, an Israeli army drone hit a motorcycle carrying two people, and one of them died.

The second incident took place in the Sheikh Ajleen neighbourhood south-west of Gaza City. There too, the agency reports, an Israeli strike targeted a vehicle and caused the death of a Palestinian.

An Israeli military spokesperson confirmed an operation in the Khan Younis area. He said the armed forces had struck "a company commander of the military wing of Hamas" and that the man "was planning an attack against Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip". The spokesperson added that precision munitions and aerial surveillance had been used before the operation to reduce harm to civilians.

The two accounts do not agree on who the victims were. Wafa attributes no military role to those hit, while the Israeli statement identifies a target belonging to Hamas. Neither version can be verified independently: international press access to the Strip remains heavily restricted and information comes largely from the parties to the conflict.

Incidents of this kind recur almost daily and form part of the wider negotiations on the territory's future arrangements, which il Cantonale has reported on in recent weeks.