‘Israeli military kills four in Gaza and expands control zone’

Israeli strikes killed four Palestinians, including a child, in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials there said, as ​Israel’s military expanded the area under its control, according to residents.
The reports came as mediators in Cairo said ‌they were pressing on with efforts to salvage a fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that has ended major clashes but left many key points unresolved.
Medics said two people were killed when an Israeli strike hit near a tent encampment in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
In the ​Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, medics said two Palestinians, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed and others were wounded ​in an Israeli airstrike that hit near a group of people digging a well.
The Israeli military did ⁠not immediately comment on the reports of the attacks or of its forces moving markers to expand the “Yellow Zone” under their control.
Israel ​and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce. Israeli strikes have killed more than 950 people since the truce, health ​officials say, while Israel says four soldiers were killed by militants during the same period.
Israeli troops still control more than 60% of Gaza’s territory, where they have ordered residents out and destroyed remaining buildings.
Nearly the entire population of 2 million people now live in a tiny strip of ​land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.
The territory has been bombarded to ruins by Israel’s ​two-year military assault that followed the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed that he had directed Israel’s military to expand ‌its hold ⁠and take control of 70% of the enclave.
“We are not allowing them to arm themselves or harm us, and we are also eliminating their senior commanders,” he said in a speech.
Witnesses in the southern Gaza areas said the Israeli forces have in the past few days expanded the “Yellow Zone”, in some areas in eastern Khan Younis and northern Rafah where new markers and concrete blocks have been placed.