Nine killed by Israeli shelling and gunfire in Gaza, as hostage bodies are recovered

Death toll rises in embattled enclave as international attention shifts to Israel-Iran conflict

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. AFP

Nine people were killed on Sunday by Israeli shelling and gunfire in southern and central areas of Gaza.

Six were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on people near an aid centre to the north-west of Rafah, the Wafa news agency reported. Two were killed when a home south of Nuseirat refugee camp was attacked, the agency added.

Medical sources told Wafa that 29 people were killed across the enclave on Sunday.

The violence came as Israeli forces recovered the bodies of three hostages held in Gaza since October 2023. The hostages were identified as civilians Ofra Keidar and Jonathan Samerano, and soldier Shay Levinson. All were killed on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

It means 50 hostages now remain in the enclave, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel's military continues to wage war on Gaza, with the attention of the international community now focused to the conflict with Iran. On Sunday, Gaza's Health Ministry said 48 people were killed in the previous 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 55,959.

In recent weeks, hundreds have been killed near aid distribution sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The group began operations at the end of May, when Israel eased a total blockade on aid supplies that lasted more than two months, but its work has been marred by chaotic scenes.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to co-operate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. The Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza in early March has created famine-like conditions in the enclave, rights groups said.

On Saturday, the GHF said people in Gaza "desperately need more aid" and that it had been unable to meet demand. In a statement, interim executive director John Acree said the group was "delivering aid at scale, securely and effectively ... but we cannot meet the full scale of need while large parts of Gaza remain closed".

He added that the GHF was "working with the government of Israel to honour its commitment and open additional sites in northern Gaza".

"The people of Gaza desperately need more aid and we are ready to partner with other humanitarian groups to expand our reach to those who need help the most," Mr Acree said.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces said they conducted operations in 15 villages as part of the ongoing "Iron Wall" operation, which has seen entire refugee camps in northern cities occupied and destroyed by Israeli forces. Authorities describe the campaign as a "counter-terror operation".

The military said it deployed ten battalions and that 13 people were arrested. It also said it discovered a number of weapons caches.

The raids took place primarily around the northern cities of Nablus and Jenin.

In Europe, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in major cities on Saturday to call for an end to the war. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags as they marched through London wearing keffiyehs. In Berlin, more than 10,000 gathered in the centre of the city, according to police.

In the Swiss capital Bern, protest organisers estimated that 20,000 people rallied in front of the national parliament, urging the government to back a ceasefire in the enclave. Thousands also gathered outside a French trade fair near Paris attended by Israeli defence companies, calling for an end to war profiteering and the offensive in Gaza.

"It's important to remember that people are suffering in Gaza. I fear all the focus will be on Iran now," said Harry Baker, who attended the protest in London.