By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ebrahim Hajjaj
CAIRO/GAZA, June 16 (Reuters) – An Israeli strike killed at least two Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, health officials said, as residents of an area in the north of the enclave fled their homes after Israeli forces expanded their control in the territory.
Medics said an Israeli strike near a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killed two brothers, Ahmed and Mahmoud Abu Heen. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
An October 2025 truce brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump has so far failed to halt Israeli attacks in Gaza or to secure the disarmament of Hamas militants.
The new deaths brought to nearly 1,000 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since October, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed by militants in that period.
The violence comes as Nickolay Mladenov, Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, arrived in Cairo to pursue talks that mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey have held with Hamas leaders over implementing the second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, sources close to the talks said.
Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked over how to proceed with the next stage of Trump’s Gaza plan, which involves Hamas laying down its arms and Israeli withdrawals.
ISRAEL TAKES MORE GAZA LAND
Israeli troops still control more than 60% of Gaza’s territory, where they have ordered residents out and destroyed remaining buildings.
On May 28, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed that he had directed Israel’s military to expand its hold and take control of 70% of the enclave.
Witnesses in southern Gaza have said Israeli forces have in the past few days expanded the “Yellow Zone” – the areas they control – in eastern Khan Younis and northern Rafah, where new markers and concrete blocks have been placed.
On Sunday, Israeli forces sent tanks further into the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, forcing several families to flee. Reuters footage, taken on Monday, showed two yellow blocks used as boundary markers that had been moved closer to houses.
“I swear we don’t know where to go,” said Umm Muhammad Junaynah, a resident of Al-Tuffah, as she struggled to hold back tears. “We are getting our furniture out, we don’t know where to go. We don’t know where to go, we have nowhere to go.”
Nearly the entire population of 2 million people, most of whom have been displaced several times, now live in a tiny strip of land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.
“It was a night of terror, we were scared,” said Nour Shabat, a 27-year-old woman, referring to events of Sunday night in Al-Tuffah.
The territory has been bombarded to ruins by Israel’s two-year military assault that followed the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
“I’m tired of displacement, honestly I’m tired of displacement. What is our fault that this is happening to us?” said Shabat.
“Should I take my belongings, myself and go sleep in the street? I have slept in the streets many times and I have been displaced many times. I’m tired and can’t handle anymore. Enough, I am tired.”
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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