Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip have intensified sharply in the weeks following the suspension of joint United States-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to a report by conflict monitoring group ACLED.
The report, released on Wednesday and cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters stated that Israel carried out 35 per cent more attacks in Gaza in April than in March.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 120 Palestinians, including eight women and 13 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the US-Israel military campaign against Iran halted on 8 April.
Lafi al-Najjar, a visually impaired Palestinian whose son was killed in an Israeli strike on 28 April, told Reuters that the violence had continued despite the ceasefire announcement.
“The war is still ongoing,” he said from a shelter in the ruins of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“It stopped in the announcement, but in reality and on the ground, the war has not stopped,” he added.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reasons for the increase in strikes.
A ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and Qatar came into effect in October with the aim of halting major fighting in Gaza, although Israeli forces have remained in parts of the territory.
Reports indicate that Israeli troops continue to occupy more than half of Gaza, where extensive destruction has displaced millions of residents.
More than two million Palestinians are now living in narrow coastal areas, largely in damaged buildings and temporary shelters.
The report stated that approximately 850 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire began, while at least four Israeli soldiers have reportedly died in attacks by Palestinian armed groups during the same period.
Israel has also expanded military operations in Lebanon since joining the United States in strikes on Iran in March, despite a separate US-mediated ceasefire in Lebanon taking effect last month.