Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that nine members of a single Palestinian family were killed Friday when Israeli forces fired on a bus in the Zeitun neighborhood, after the military claimed the vehicle crossed the so-called "yellow line".
"Civil defense crews were able to recover nine bodies following the Israeli occupation's targeting of a bus carrying displaced persons east of the Zeitun neighborhood yesterday," Mahmud Bassal, a spokesperson for the agency, told AFP on Saturday.
Bassal said the victims were members of the Abu Shabaan family and were killed while "trying to check on their home" in the Zeitun neighborhood.
The Israeli military said a vehicle had been identified crossing the "yellow line", the boundary behind which Israeli troops are stationed under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
The Israeli military said they had fired warning shots towards the suspicious vehicle which it claimed continued to approach in a way that caused an “imminent threat” to them.
"The troops opened fire to remove the threat, in accordance with the agreement,” it said.
The cease-fire between Israeli forces and Hamas is now in its second week, but several incidents have been reported since it began, with the Israeli military saying its troops fired at individuals who approached or crossed the "yellow line".
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza in search of their homes since the ceasefire began, often struggling to find them amid the vast devastation left by more than two years of Israeli bombardment.
Several Gazans who spoke to AFP said they were unable to locate their houses or even familiar landmarks in neighborhoods now buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings and debris.
