Israeli fire kills five people in Gaza, medics say

CAIRO, Aug 31 - Israeli airstrikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials said.

Medics said two people were killed and several others wounded when one strike hit a crowd near the municipal public park in Gaza City, an area packed with displaced families.

Later on Monday, another Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle in the Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood in western Gaza City, killing at least three people, medics added.

The Israeli military said the two attacks targeted Hamas militants, without giving further information.

At Al Shifa Hospital, the enclave's largest medical facility, relatives and friends paid their last respects to two of the five men killed on Monday before carrying the white-shrouded bodies to the cemetery to bury them.

"There is no ceasefire. There is not one good day in Gaza since October 7 (2023)," said Amjad Abu Abdo, a relative of one of the people who died in the first strike on Monday.

"I swear, we do not sleep from the sound of drones. You sleep scared of being hit," Abu Abdo added.

Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people during their cross-border attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in the enclave since then.

An October 2025 U.S.-backed ceasefire halted major fighting in the shattered territory, but it failed to end strikes by the Israeli military which says such actions are aimed at thwarting attacks by Hamas and other Gaza militants.

Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the Gaza conflict, which also includes Israeli withdrawals and Hamas disarmament.

More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October, according to Gazan health officials. The Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed. REUTERS