On Sunday, Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians, including an elderly woman, in Gaza despite the ceasefire agreement. The latest violence came as Israeli troops withdrew from the Netazarim Corridor, a strip of land that separated northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip.
Palestinian health officials said three were killed while trying to return to their homes east of Gaza City. “Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces while returning to their homes near the Kuwait Roundabout, east of Gaza City. Their bodies were transferred to the Baptist Hospital,” health officials said.
The Israeli military acknowledged its troops opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians near the Israel-Gaza border in an area east of Gaza City. Israeli troops are still occupying a “buffer zone” they created along the entire border that cuts into Gaza’s territory by about one kilometer.
The IDF claimed the crowd of Palestinians was approaching Israeli troops in the buffer zone and were a few hundred meters away when they fired. The Israeli military did not claim the Palestinians were armed.
The elderly woman was killed in another incident that occurred near the southern city of Khan Younis. The circumstances of her death are unclear, but throughout the ceasefire, the IDF has opened fire at unarmed Palestinians simply for approaching their positions. An unarmed Israeli contractor was also killed by the IDF in a similar manner.
The Israeli withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor means Palestinians can now move from southern and central Gaza to the north without passing through Israeli checkpoints. Hamas said the withdrawal was a sign of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to reach victory.
“The return of the displaced, the continuation of prisoner exchanges, along with the withdrawal from Netzarim, refute Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lie about achieving a complete victory over our people,” said Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou, according to The New Arab.
Palestinians uncovered mass graves in the Netzarim Corridor following the Israeli withdrawal. According to Israeli media, the IDF designated the corridor as a “kill zone,” meaning any Palestinian who approached would be shot at even if they were unarmed civilians.
One Israeli commander told Haaretz, “After shootings, bodies are not collected, attracting packs of dogs who come to eat them. In Gaza, people know that wherever you see these dogs, that’s where you must not go.”
