DEIR AL BALAH (AP) — Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 13 people, according to health officials, as U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to announce the Board of Peace to oversee the fragile
ceasefire.
Health officials and family members said at least one child was among the dead in northern Gaza following several strikes there as well as east of Gaza City.
Israel's army said Friday it struck Hamas infrastructure and fighters in southern and northern Gaza in response to a failed projectile launched by militants from the Gaza City area.
The phased ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains in its initial stage as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage in Gaza.
Officials say next week Trump is expected to announce the Board of Peace, which he has said he will head, marking an important step forward for his Mideast peace plan. The process has moved slowly since a ceasefire in October ended more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The U.S. official and another official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.
On Thursday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov would be the “designated” director-general for the board. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as the U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015-2020. During that time, he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease tensions between Israel and Hamas.
Under Trump’s plan, the board would supervise a new technocratic Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and reconstruction. The U.S. has reported little progress on any of these fronts so far.
On Thursday, Egyptian and European Union leaders met in Cairo and urged the deployment of the international stabilization force. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Hamas still refused to disarm and called the situation “extremely severe."
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the nearly three-month-old ceasefire. Continued Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 400 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
The Israeli military says any actions since the ceasefire began have been in response to violations of the agreement.
The strikes Thursday killed an 11-year-old girl who dreamed of becoming a doctor, a teenage girl and two boys in a tent camp. At least a dozen others were injured, hospital officials said.
