MULTIPLE Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 14 Palestinians, more than half of them in a drone strike on a funeral procession.
Nine months into its so-called “ceasefire” with Hamas, Israel continues to violate it on a near-daily basis.
Eight people were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a gathering of civilians in the Al-Balata market area of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, Gaza’s civil defence agency and a hospital said.
At least 20 others were injured, the Al-Awda Hospital added.
Witnesses said the drone targeted Palestinian mourners gathered outside the Ahmad Yassin Mosque as they waited to begin a funeral procession for a Palestinian killed in a separate attack earlier in the day in the same area.
“There is no regard for the ceasefire,” said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City.
“The people who were participating in the [funeral] procession were coming out of the mosque [when] a drone strike targeted a group of people within the procession itself.”
The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the strike, the AFP news agency reported.
The army claimed to have struck a “terrorist” cell in central Gaza, but added that it was “aware of the claims that several uninvolved individuals were harmed as a result of the strike. The results of the strike are under review.”
In a statement, Palestinian group Hamas condemned the strike.
“This heinous crime takes place while the aggressor regime, through its systematic and continuous violation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, continues to kill and terrorise innocent citizens in front of the eyes of mediators and the international community,” it said.
Earlier on Friday, a 52-year-old woman was killed in the northern city of Beit Lahia when an Israeli drone dropped a bomb near Abu Tammam School, Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
An Israeli attack targeting a gathering of Palestinians in the town of Az-Zawayda in central Gaza killed another person and injured several others.
In al-Sawarha, west of Nuseirat refugee camp, one person was killed when a structure housing displaced people was struck by Israeli fire.
Elsewhere, an Israeli drone struck an apartment in Gaza City, killing a Palestinian and wounding several others, including children, while another woman died from wounds sustained in Israeli gunfire southwest of Khan Younis.
The research group, Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), reported on Wednesday that Israeli attacks on the enclave have increased since May.
ACLED said there were more than 40 strikes last month – the highest monthly total since the “ceasefire” began. The increase has raised questions about whether Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza will ever end, allowing the devastated territory to be rebuilt and Palestinians to return to a sense of normality.
“The skies above the Gaza Strip are filled with drones,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said.
“You can hear the mechanical hum of these drones everywhere … In addition to the ongoing [Israeli] destruction of remaining infrastructure,” he added.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday that Israel has been killing children as “a matter of routine” – 274 since the “ceasefire” started.
It said that, on average, one child has been killed every day since then.