Health officials: At least five Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least five Palestinians on Sunday, health officials said, as efforts to broker a ceasefire aimed at ending fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group falter.

In the weeks after it suspended joint bombing of Iran with the United States (US), Israel has stepped up attacks in Gaza, where Hamas is consolidating control, although Israeli troops still control more than half of the territory.

Doctors said the Israeli strike killed one Palestinian near a police checkpoint and another in a tent city in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it had killed a militant who posed an imminent threat to forces in the area.

Separately, doctors in Gaza said a second Israeli airstrike killed at least three people at a soup kitchen near Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the incident.

The Israeli military announced on Saturday that Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of Hamas' armed wing in Gaza, was killed in what it said was a precision strike on Gaza City on Friday.

Hamas confirmed Hadad's death but did not threaten revenge.

Hamas commander killed in car

The Israeli military said it had also killed Bahu Baroud, the commander of Hamas's operational headquarters, in an airstrike on Saturday, accusing him of planning multiple direct attacks on soldiers and Israeli civilians in recent weeks.

The military stated that Barud posed an imminent threat and was targeted in a precision attack, adding that measures had been taken beforehand to reduce civilian casualties, including the use of precision ammunition and aerial surveillance.

Health officials in Gaza said Barud, along with another person, was killed in an airstrike that hit their car in Gaza City.

Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked in indirect talks over US President Donald Trump's plan for post-war Gaza, which is supposed to end more than two years of fighting, with Hamas disarmed and Israeli troops withdrawn from Gaza.

About 870 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the October ceasefire, according to figures that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Militants have killed four Israeli soldiers in the same period.

Hamas does not publish data on losses among its fighters.