Israeli strikes kill three people in Gaza, medics say

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes killed at least three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, health officials said.

One strike near Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed Basir Al-Bursh, the son of Munir Al-Bursh, the territory's health ministry director-general, medics and family members said.

The Israeli military said it had struck several militants on Saturday, including Basir Al-Bursh, without giving further information. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, did not immediately comment.

Munir Al-Bursh lost a daughter in an Israeli airstrike in December 2023, according to family members and medics. He was wounded in that attack.

In video obtained by Reuters, Al-Bursh was seen carrying his son's body, wrapped in a blanket, with other mourners as it was rushed to hospital by ambulance.

"I was with him in the tent, and he said, Dad, they will target us, you and me together, I said that is fine, we will go to heaven together," said Al-Bursh in the video.

"He went outside the tent and they struck him and he was martyred, may God have mercy on him," added Al-Bursh.

At Al Shifa Hospital, Al-Bursh could barely stand as mourners arrived to pay their respects.

Elsewhere, a strike killed a man in Shejaia, east of Gaza City, while another hit a vehicle in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City, killing one person, the civil defence service and medics said, taking Saturday's death toll to at least three.

The Israeli military said the Sheikh Radwan strike targeted a Hamas militant. The blast reduced the vehicle to a mangled wreck.

Palestinian authorities say more than 73,000 people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel in October 2023.

A US-brokered ceasefire agreed last year calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory, but little progress has been made as negotiators have failed to agree terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.

More than 1,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory's health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Editing by Mark Potter)