1 killed in Israel’s first Gaza strike in over a week

Israel on Wednesday carried out its first air strike in more than a week in Gaza, both sides said, breaking a relative lull as the US pressed a peace plan.The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas commander, charging that he had been planning attacks against Israeli forces operating in the war-battered territory.“The terrorist was struck in an aerial strike in order to remove the threat to IDF troops,” a military statement said, adding that it tried to mitigate civilian harm.Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue service under Hamas, said the strike in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip targeted civilians riding in a tuk-tuk.The strike killed Mohanad Saada, whose body was “torn to pieces”, and wounded five other people, according to the civil defence agency and al-Shifa Hospital.A witness said Saada was among a group of workers who were repairing a wall damaged by Israeli shelling.An internally displaced Palestinian man walks past the rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in Khan Younis on Tuesday. Photo: AFP