Israeli strikes kill six in Gaza amid fraying US-brokered ceasefire agreement

Gaza: Fresh Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip killed six people on Thursday, according to reports by Al Jazeera citing local health officials and Gaza's Civil Defence agency, despite a US-brokered "ceasefire" intended to limit hostilities.

Two of the fatalities occurred when an Israeli drone targeted the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, whilst the remaining four victims died in separate bombardments across the enclave. Local hospitals confirmed they had received the bodies of the six individuals killed in the attacks.

The escalation in Gaza comes amidst a broader regional flare-up, following a new wave of United States air strikes inside Iran. US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Wednesday that its forces had initiated additional strikes against Iranian targets to further diminish Tehran's capacity to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, following recent assaults on commercial shipping vessels and civilian crews.

In a statement published on social media platform X, US CENTCOM said: "At the direction of the Commander in Chief, US Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."

In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on Thursday that it had launched 10 ballistic missiles at the US Al-Azraq airbase in northern Jordan, targeting what it characterised as an "enemy command and control centre in West Asia."

The IRGC asserted that the retaliatory barrage was a direct response to Washington’s recent operations against Tehran.

According to a statement broadcast by the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the Revolutionary Guards described the missile operation as the "second phase" of its military response to American aggression.

"At 2:20 pm today, IRGC aerospace fighters destroyed the enemy's command and control centre in West Asia and the enemy air base in Al-Azraq, Jordan, with 10 ballistic missiles," the statement read.

The IRGC warned that any subsequent US military action would provoke further strikes against American installations throughout the region. "If the US terrorist army repeats its aggression, other US bases in the region will not be safe from our heavy fire," the statement added.

With inputs from ANI