Israel kills three collecting firewood in Gaza strike

An Israeli air strike killed three Palestinian men in Gaza on Monday as they tried to gather firewood, medics said, with no sign of progress from renewed talks on sustaining a ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

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The three — from the same family — had left their homes to collect firewood for cooking, a daily task for many Gazans as Israel has continued to ban fuel, food, and medical goods in Gaza for over two weeks, families said.

At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, relatives rushed to pay farewell to the three white-shrouded bodies.

“My son, along with his cousins, went in the morning to collect firewood in a safe area. They were targeted - and when their cousins and others in the area came to rescue them, the drone targeted them with bombs,” said Jabr ‘Abou Hajeer, the father of one of the victims.

In the latest bloodshed to underline the fragility of the Gaza war's three-stage truce, medics said the men were killed near Bureij camp in the center of the devastated Palestinian enclave by a missile fired from a drone.

The Israeli military said in a statement it struck “terrorists” operating near their forces and attempting to plant a bomb.