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Israel targets Hamas commander it says planned attacks

Witnesses say a man on a rickshaw in the northern Gaza Strip was wounded in an Israeli attack. (EPA PHOTO)

An Israeli air strike has critically wounded a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip, in ‌an attack the Israeli military says targeted a Hamas commander planning ‌attacks against Israeli troops operating in the territory.

It was the ‌first such air strike in over a week, after Israel scaled back major attacks under US pressure to implement the latest iteration of President Donald Trump's plan to end the ‌war in the enclave.

Palestinian ‌medics ⁠and witnesses said the man who was wounded ​was riding on a rickshaw in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the man targeted was hit in an aerial strike ⁠in order to remove ‌the threat ​to Israeli military troops.

It added that its forces would ​remain deployed in ‌the area under the Southern Command in accordance with ​the agreement and would continue operations against immediate threats.

Hamas militants
The Israeli army says it will target militants posing a threat ​to its troops. (AP PHOTO)

Israeli fire has killed more than 1250 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, ​most ​of them civilians, ​since a US-backed ceasefire halted two ‌years of full-scale war in October.

It is unclear how many of those killed might be militants since Hamas does not usually disclose information about dead fighters.

Four Israeli soldiers ​were killed by militants in the strip over the same ​period, according to ⁠an Israeli tally.

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