Israeli strikes have killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, health officials say, as ceasefire efforts meant to end fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group falter.
In the weeks since halting its joint bombing with the US in Iran, Israel has stepped up its attacks in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has been tightening its grip, even as Israeli troops remain in control of more than half the territory.
Medics said an Israeli strike killed one Palestinian near a police post and another at a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said it killed a militant who posed an immediate threat to forces in the area.
Separately, Gazan medics said another Israeli air strike killed at least three people at a community kitchen near al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, in the centre of the enclave.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday that Israeli forces had extended their control in the Gaza Strip.
"In Gaza now, we are no longer holding 50 per cent, but already 60 per cent. We have Hamas in our grip," Netanyahu said, according to his office.
"We know exactly what our mission is, and our mission is one: to ensure that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel, and we are carrying out this mission too with the help of our heroic soldiers," he said.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said that Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of Hamas' armed wing, was killed in what it described as a precise strike on Gaza City on Friday.
Hamas confirmed Haddad's death but stopped short of threatening revenge.
The Israeli military said it had also killed Bahaa Baroud, a Hamas Operations Headquarters commander, in an air strike on Saturday, accusing him of planning multiple imminent attacks against troops and Israeli civilians in recent weeks.
The military said Baroud posed an immediate threat and was targeted in a precise strike, adding that measures were taken beforehand to reduce civilian harm, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.
Gazan health officials said Baroud, along with another person, was killed in the air strike, which targeted their car in Gaza City.
Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked in indirect talks to advance US President Donald Trump's post-war plan for the Gaza Strip that is meant to end more than two years of fighting with Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw from the territory.
Since the October ceasefire, 870 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes according to figures that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants during the same period.
Hamas does not disclose figures for casualties among its fighters.
with DPA
