By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas
CAIRO/GAZA, April 23 (Reuters) – Israeli airstrikes killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday, and Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 15-year-old during an army raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said.
One person was killed in a strike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis in which several others were wounded, local medics said. Israel’s military said it had targeted militants transporting munitions, who it said had posed a threat to Israeli soldiers.
Three others, including a rescue worker, were killed in a separate strike in Maghazi, a Palestinian refugee camp in the Deir al Balah area in central Gaza, health officials said. Israel’s military had no immediate comment on that strike.
Israel has carried out repeated strikes on Gaza since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into effect in October. Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of ceasefire violations.
There is no mechanism for enforcing the ceasefire. Four Israeli soldiers and more than 780 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire started.
At Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest medical facility, relatives stood among mourners gathered to bury five people, including three children, who were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a northern Gaza town.
“There is no ceasefire, no truce, nothing at all,” said Mohammed Baalousha, a relative of one of the victims. “There is no safety in any area.”
Israel’s military has not commented on the strike.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
In the West Bank city of Nablus, health officials said Israeli forces shot and killed a teenager during an ongoing raid in the city.
The Israeli military said a Palestinian hurled stones towards its forces during an “operational activity” in the area of Nablus and forces initiated “standard suspect apprehension procedures, which concluded with fire being directed at the suspect.”
The military added that they were aware of reports that a Palestinian was killed at the scene.
The health ministry said Israeli settlers shot and killed a 25-year-old Palestinian man in Deir Dibwan town near Ramallah a day ago, in the latest in what human rights groups have described as a surge in violence against Palestinians waged by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident. The Palestinian health ministry said at least 15 people had been killed by Israeli settlers’ attacks so far this year.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Dawoud Abu Alkas in Gaza, and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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