Israeli military says it conducted 'targeted strike' in central Gaza

Israeli forces carried out a "targeted strike" on an individual in central Gaza who was planning to attack Israeli troops, Israel's military said on Saturday.

A US-backed ceasefire is in force between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas just over two years since the war in the Gaza Strip began, but each side has accused the other of violations.

Israel said it had targeted a member of Islamic Jihad. On Sunday, the Palestinian militant group said in a statement that the Israeli military's claim of a planned attack by the group was a "mere fallacious allegation".

It did not say whether one of its members was killed in the Israeli strike.

Witnesses told Reuters they had seen a drone strike a car and set it ablaze. Local medics said four people had been wounded, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

Witnesses said separately that Israeli tanks had shelled eastern areas of Gaza City, the Gaza Strip's biggest urban area. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several Israeli media sites said Israel, in a reversal of a policy of barring entry to foreign forces, had allowed Egyptian officials into the Gaza Strip to help locate the bodies of hostages taken captive in the Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities on 7 October 2023, that triggered the war.

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas has said it will return all the hostages it abducted, but the remains of 13 are still in the enclave.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.