Extract from ABC News
Mourners were united in grief in Gaza on Wednesday. (Reuters: Ramadan Abed )
In short:
At least 11 people have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, threatening a shakey ceasefire deal.
Two boys aged 10 and 13 are among those killed.
Israel's military said the death of the journalists came as part of a strike targeting the operation of a drone linked to Hamas, but did not comment on the other incidents.
Children and journalists were among 11 people killed by Israeli forces in separate incidents in Gaza, local medics said, in the latest violence to undermine a three-month-old ceasefire in the war-shattered enclave.
Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian journalists travelling in a car on assignment to film a displaced persons camp in central Gaza.
In another incident, medics said three people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed by Israeli tank shelling in central Gaza.
Two others, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed in two Israeli shooting incidents in Khan Younis in the south, medics said.
A further three Palestinians were killed in other Israeli attacks across Gaza, bringing the day's death toll to at least 11, the Gaza health ministry said.
Commenting on the incident involving the journalists, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops identified "several suspects who operated a drone affiliated with Hamas" in central Gaza.
"Following the identification and due to the threat that the drone posed to the troops, the IDF precisely struck the suspects who activated the drone," the military said.
It added that "the details of the incident are under examination."
Mourners carry the body of one of the Palestinian journalists killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis. (Reuters: Ramadan Abed)
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said in a statement that the journalists killed "were carrying out a humanitarian, journalistic mission to film and document the suffering of civilians in displacement camps."
It did not say if the three were using a drone in their filming. Local journalists said their work was sponsored by the Egyptian Committee, which supervises Egypt's relief work in Gaza.
An Egyptian security source confirmed the vehicle belonged to the committee but gave no further details.
The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the other incidents.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says it has documented 206 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza since the start of the war.
The CPJ says Israel has never published the results of a formal investigation or held anyone accountable for killings by its military.
The military says it has targeted only combatants and military sites.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate puts the number killed at more than 260.
Trump tells Hamas to give up weapons or 'be blown away'
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for multiple breaches of the October truce after two years of war that devastated Gaza and caused a humanitarian disaster, and remain at odds over the next steps in US President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan.
The deal has not progressed beyond the first-phase ceasefire, under which major fighting stopped, some Israeli forces pulled back, and Hamas freed hostages in return for Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners.
Under future phases whose details have yet to be hammered out, Hamas is supposed to disarm, Israeli forces withdraw further and an internationally backed administration installed to rebuild the ruined, densely populated territory.
But no timetable has been set to implement the plan.
Mr Trump told the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland that it should be known within three weeks whether Hamas will agree to give up its weapons, and threatened action if the group does not.
"That's what they agreed to. They've got to do it. And we're going to know … over the next two or three days — certainly over the next three weeks — whether or not they're going to do it," Mr Trump said in a question and answer session following his speech at the event.
"If they don't do it, they'll be blown away very quickly. They'll be blown away."
Israel says it can only move into the second phase after Hamas hands over the remains of the last Israeli hostage.
More than 460 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed in clashes since the ceasefire took effect.
Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after a Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's assault has killed 71,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health authorities say.
Reuters
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