Israeli fire kills three in Gaza City during reported raid, medics say

What the report says

Palestinian medics said at least three people were killed in separate Israeli fire incidents in Gaza on Wednesday, including two children and a woman in western Gaza City and another child in central Gaza. The BBC reported that the deaths came amid unconfirmed local accounts of a raid involving an Israel-backed Palestinian militia, followed by Israeli shelling and air strikes after the operation was discovered.

According to the article, videos from Gaza City showed gunfire and the damage left by air strikes, while initial Palestinian reports described a special Israeli unit entering a crowded area using a van and motorcycles. The report said it remained unclear whether the people involved were Israeli forces or members of the militia. A local source told the BBC that a senior Hamas security official may have been the intended target.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said a senior Hamas official had been arrested, but the BBC noted it was not clear whether that statement was connected to the Gaza City incident. The Israeli military said only that it had struck several targets in Gaza to remove threats to its forces, and said none of its troops were injured.

The episode fits into the wider Israel-Gaza war, where raids, air strikes and conflicting accounts of operations have often made it difficult to confirm details quickly. The BBC’s account indicates the situation was still developing and that responsibility for the raid remained unverified.