CAIRO/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza for a second straight day on Sunday, killing at least 13 Palestinians, medics said, despite US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year’s Gaza ceasefire agreement.

From dawn, Israeli warplanes hit Gaza City in the north, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the southern area of Khan Younis, causing the biggest daily death toll in weeks, according to Palestinian health officials.

Trump’s assertion on Thursday that Palestinian Hamas militants and other armed groups had agreed to disarm had raised hopes of a turning point in the conflict.

On Sunday, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen — a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security cabinet — told Israel’s Army Radio the government would give Hamas the opportunity to disarm but said he was “very sceptical” that would happen.

Cohen added that there had been no deal to halt attacks on Gaza and that he saw a need for Israel — which already controls 70% of the enclave — to take full control of it if Hamas did not disarm.

“In the deal we signed with the United States, our stance is that Hamas must be dismantled. This is the first thing that must happen,” he added.

ATTACKS HIT TENTS, APARTMENT AND HOUSE, MEDICS SAY

Strikes on Deir al-Balah killed at least four people, Palestinian health officials said, and a separate attack wounded five people and set some tents ablaze in Mawasi near Khan Younis, according to the civil emergency service.

A couple and their 9-year-old son were also killed in a strike on a house in Mawasi, Palestinian officials said.

Another couple was killed with their child in a strike on an apartment in Gaza City, where two more people died in a strike on a tent near the office of the Egyptian representative mission, medics said. Another person was killed near Jabalia in northern Gaza, they added.

The Israeli military said a strike on an apartment in Deir al-Balah was targeting two commanders of Hamas’ elite “Nukhba” force.

The Gaza City and Jabalia strikes also targeted “military operatives” but the military was still reviewing the situation, it added.

At least 1,230 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a ceasefire was reached in October, according to Gaza health authorities. They do not say how many combatants may be among the dead. Hamas does not disclose figures on its war dead.—Reuters