Palestinians search the rubble of the Harb family home which was hit in overnight Israeli strikes in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on June 18, 2024. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories: Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least 13 people in central Gaza, the civil defence agency said, although fighting has largely subsided as Muslims mark Eid al-Adha.
An Israeli announcement at the weekend of a daily "pause" of military activity to facilitate aid flows coincided with the Muslim holiday and has brought relative calm to parts of the besieged Gaza Strip after more than eight months of war.
In central Gaza, witnesses reported gunfire and artillery shelling near Nuseirat refugee camp, where the civil defence agency said at least 13 people died in two separate strikes on a family home and on a commercial building.
Witnesses and the government media office said there were some strikes and fighting elsewhere in northern and central Gaza.
An AFP correspondent reported Israeli strikes near Gaza City, though the violence appears to have decreased in intensity in recent days.
In Rafah, where the Israeli military has said it would pause fighting along a key route in the city's east, witnesses saw Israeli military vehicles and reported shelling in other areas.
'Tactical pause'
The United Nations says aid access to Gaza has been severely hindered by factors including insecurity, the closing of crossing points to the territory, and Israeli procedural delays.
The vital Rafah crossing with Egypt has been shut since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May.
Displaced Palestinian Ali Hassan, sheltering in a tent in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah, told AFP that "Eid al-Adha this year is not like previous holidays."
"There is no meat or sacrificial animals, we don't even have clothes for the children," he said.
