Israeli airstrike kills two in Gaza including girl, hospital staff say

CAIRO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Israel killed at least two Palestinians including a girl, and wounded four others including other children, in an airstrike on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, officials at the city's main Nasser Hospital said.

The Israeli military said the strike, carried out in an area controlled by Hamas, had targeted a Hamas militant who was planning to attack Israeli troops in southern Gaza.

Israel has carried out repeated air strikes in Gaza since a U.S.-brokered deal took effect in October that halted most fighting. Israel says its strikes are aimed at preventing attacks or destroying militant infrastructure.

Gaza's health ministry says 422 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect. Gaza militants have killed three Israeli soldiers during the same period.

Under the first phase of the deal, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, Israel has retained control of 53% of Gaza. Hamas agreed to release living hostages and hand over remains in exchange for the freeing of Palestinians detained by Israel.

The final hostage remains still to be handed over belong to an Israeli police officer killed on October 7, 2023 - the day Gazan militants invaded Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to local health authorities. Most of the territory is in ruins, with the population of more than 2 million living mainly in makeshift homes or damaged buildings in areas where Israeli forces withdrew.

Earlier on Monday, a father and son in Gaza were killed in the collapse of their house which had been damaged in an earlier Israeli strike, authorities in Gaza said.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Alexander CornwellEditing by Rami Ayyub and Peter Graff)