Khan Younis is full of displaced Palestinians, with residential areas throughout the Gaza Strip destroyed by Israel [Getty]
Israeli forces carried out new attacks across the Gaza Strip on Saturday despite a ceasefire that has technically been in place since October.
Israeli warplanes struck areas in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian man and injuring his daughter.
Israeli naval vessels also opened fire off the coast of Gaza City, while fighter jets carried out strikes east of the Tuffah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City
Israeli artillery also shelled northwestern areas of the Gaza Strip intermittently, according to the Anadolu news agency.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that three people, including a child were killed and three wounded arrived at hospitals in the enclave over the past 48 hours.
The ministry added that since the ceasefire took effect in October, at least 640 Palestinians have been killed, 1,707 injured and 753 bodies recovered from across the territory.
Separately, the Israeli military acknowledged on Friday that a shell fired from an Israeli naval vessel had struck a United Nations fuel truck in Gaza “unintentionally”.
The UN Office for Project Services, which oversees fuel distribution in Gaza, said the empty fuel truck was hit on Thursday at around 5:00 am by fire originating from the sea, causing damage to the vehicle. No injuries were reported.
Cooking gas crisis worsens
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is also worsening as a shortage of cooking gas deepens across the enclave.
Local authorities say no cooking gas has entered Gaza’s markets for a full week, exacerbating an already severe shortage and leaving residents and businesses struggling to meet daily needs.
Although limited numbers of aid and goods trucks have been allowed into Gaza in recent days after crossings were briefly closed following the US and Israel’s war on Iran, none have carried cooking gas supplies.
Gaza requires around 8,000 tonnes of cooking gas each month, roughly 260 tonnes per day, to meet minimum needs. However, supplies entering the territory before the latest closures were already extremely limited.
Prices on the informal market have surged in recent days, rising from around 40 shekels per kilogram to about 75 shekels, more than a 80 percent increase, according to local reports.
The shortage is also beginning to affect commercial activity across the enclave.
Restaurant owners, bakeries and sweet shops say their remaining gas supplies are running low, raising fears that some businesses may be forced to reduce operating hours or suspend operations entirely if new shipments do not arrive soon.
