Israel strikes Gaza rocket launch site, ceasefire deal under strain

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jana Choukeir

CAIRO/DUBAI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Israel's military said on Thursday it had carried out a targeted strike on a rocket launch site near Gaza City after identifying a ​failed launch, as questions mount over when the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire will begin.

The ‌military said the projectile did not cross into Israeli territory and that the launch site was struck shortly after the attempt was detected.

It ‌accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire twice in the past 24 hours. A source from the Palestinian militant group told Reuters it was checking the allegation.

Further highlighting the fragility of the ceasefire deal, local Palestinian health authorities said two people, a woman and a boy, had been injured on Thursday in two separate shooting incidents by Israeli forces in southern ⁠and northern Gaza.

There was no immediate ‌Israeli comment on the report.

Israel is awaiting the handover of the final body due under the current stage of the truce. An Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‍has said Israel will not move to the next phase of the ceasefire until Hamas returns the remains of the last Israeli hostage still held in Gaza.

Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which is another condition ​of the U.S.-backed plan, saying it will only do so once the remains are returned.

CEASEFIRE LOOKING FRAGILE

Israel and ‌Hamas have accused each other of major breaches of the ceasefire deal and remain far apart on the more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase.

Israel has continued to carry out air strikes and targeted operations across Gaza. The Israeli military said it views "with utmost severity" any attempts by militant groups in Gaza to attack Israel.

A Hamas official told Reuters on Thursday the group had documented more than 1,100 Israeli violations of the ceasefire since October ⁠and had urged mediators to intervene.

The violations include killings, injuries, artillery ​and aerial strikes, home demolitions and detention of people, he said.

Hamas ​has refused to disarm and has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the Gaza Strip. Israel has said it will resume military action if Hamas ‍is not disarmed peacefully.

More than ⁠400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed since the truce, according to Gaza health officials, as well as three Israeli soldiers.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others in an assault on ⁠Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza since then, ‌according to the territory's health ministry.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir in Dubai and Nidal al Mughrbai ‌in Cairo; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Gareth Jones)