The Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip, operating under the leadership of "Hamas", announced today that it had recovered the bodies of nine Palestinians who it said were killed yesterday in an Israeli shelling of a bus, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
"In cooperation with the Red Cross office, Civil Defense teams managed to recover the bodies of nine martyrs after the Israeli occupation authorities yesterday shelled a bus carrying refugees east of the "Zeitoun" neighborhood in Gaza City," Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the enclave's Civil Defense, told AFP.
Basal added that the victims, including children, were members of the same Shaabane family, killed while "trying to check (the condition of) their home" after Israeli bombardment during the war.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it had "identified a suspicious vehicle crossing the yellow line," which is the withdrawal line for Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip agreed to under the ceasefire.
The Israeli military said that after warning shots, soldiers "opened fire to eliminate the threat" and acted "in accordance with the agreement." for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement "Hamas", which came into effect on October 10.
Signed under the auspices of US President Donald Trump, the agreement aims to put a final end to the war in Gaza, AFP reports.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza in search of their homes since the start of the ceasefire, the third since the war began, triggered by a Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.
Several Gazans told AFP that they could not find their homes – or even familiar landmarks – in neighborhoods now buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombing.