An Israeli drone strike on Monday hit a town to the east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killing two people, including a child, the Palestinian news agency WAFA has reported.
“Medical sources reported that the two were killed when a drone targeted a group of civilians in the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis,” the WAFA report said. Footage from Turkey’s Anadolu Agency shows Palestinians mourning the two victims of the Israeli drone strike at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
A day earlier, an Israeli strike killed one person in a tent in the same town, in an area residents told Al Jazeera was beyond the so-called “yellow line,” the boundary that separates Israeli-occupied Gaza from the rest of the Strip, which is not clearly marked for Palestinians on the ground.
The Israeli military has maintained a policy of killing anyone who allegedly crosses or approaches the yellow line, and reports have indicated that the IDF is enforcing the policy well beyond the line set by the US-backed ceasefire deal.
The IDF on Monday acknowledged killing two Palestinians whom it claimed were “terrorists.” The IDF also claimed that the two Palestinians were approaching Israeli troops and posed a “threat,” though it did not allege in its statement that they were armed.
According to Israeli media, Israeli ministers discussed the policy last month at a security cabinet meeting, with a military official stating that any adult who crosses the line will be shot, and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir urging the Israeli military to also shoot children. Defense Minister Israel Katz concluded the conversation by stating that anyone who approaches the line “should know that they may be harmed.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily update on Monday that since the ceasefire was supposed to go into effect on October 10, Israeli forces have killed at least 242 Palestinians and injured 622.
The Israeli military has also continued demolishing homes inside the yellow line. “Every two-storey building or house is being targeted,” Hamdan Radwan, the mayor of Bani Suheila, told Al Jazeera.
