Nearly 2 Months Into 'Ceasefire,' IDF Kills 2 More Palestinian Children as Gaza Death Toll Passes 70,000

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported Saturday that nearly two months after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement, the death toll in Israel's war on Gaza has passed 70,000 as the Israel Defense Forces have continued to claim they are targeting only Hamas fighters—while killing civilians including two children who were gathering firewood for their father on Saturday.

Fadi Abu Assi, 11, and Goma Abu Assi, eight, were close to a school sheltering displaced Palestinians near Beni Suhaila in southern Gaza when the IDF fired a drone in the area, killing both boys.

"They are children...what did they do? They do not have missiles or bombs, they went to gather wood for their father so he can start a fire," the boys' uncle, Mohamed Abu Assi, told Sky News.

Breaking the Silence, an IDF veterans' group whose members speak out against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, condemned the military for a statement it released on the killing, which the group said amounted to "a pile of words meant only to keep justifying endless killing under insane and ruthless rules of engagement."

The IDF told Sky News that troops had "identified two suspects who crossed the yellow line," the point to which the IDF withdrew as part of the ceasefire deal in October.

The military said the two boys had "conducted suspicious activities on the ground, and approached IDF troops operating in the southern Gaza Strip, posing an immediate threat to them."

The IDF claimed it identified the eight- and 11-year-old boys and "eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat."

Despite the ceasefire, said Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, "the Israeli military is still killing children."

Drop Site News condemned the New York Times' coverage of the boys' killing, with the newspaper writing in a headline that "Gazans say" Fadi and Goma Abu Assi were killed by Israeli forces.

"The boys’ bodies, their ages, and their identities are fully documented—including videos of their lifeless shrouds and their wheelchair-bound father weeping over them—backed by eyewitness accounts and hospital confirmation," said Drop Site.

The Times also reduced "the 350+ Palestinians killed since the October 10 ceasefire to 'persistent violence,'" said the outlet.

The health ministry, whose statistics the World Health Organization and other international agencies have long viewed as credible, said 356 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the first phase of the truce began.

The Times' framing, said Drop Site, "hides the truth that the violence is one-directional, systematic, and directed at civilians who pose no threat to Israelis."

On Sunday, the outlet reported that the IDF was "boasting about breaking the ceasefire" as it announced troops had killed four Palestinian fighters as they emerged from underground tunnels in eastern Rafah.

"It remains unclear whether today’s casualties were fighters or civilians or children," said Drop Site.

Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas' political bureau, told Al Jazeera Sunday that the group is searching for the two remaining bodies of deceased Israeli captives, to be returned to Israel in accordance with the ceasefire deal, and accused Israeli officials of "using these bodies as a pretext to delay movement to the second phase of the ceasefire."