• Teenager shot dead in occupied West Bank
• Media association slams Tel Aviv’s ‘violent assault’ on CNN crew

GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM: The Israeli military killed three Palestinian men in Gaza on Saturday in two separate air strikes, local health officials and medics said, the latest round of deadly violence despite a US-brokered ceasefire that is now more than five months old.

Palestinian health officials said one man was killed in an air strike on a car in the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, while medics said two adult brothers were killed in Shujiaya, a neighbourhood east of Gaza City.

The military has killed more than 680 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire with Hamas came into effect in November, local health officials say. More than 72,000 have been killed since the war started in October 2023.

The Hamas-affiliated Shehab News Agency said the brothers were killed in an air strike by the Israeli military after an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia in Gaza had tried to abduct them.

Neither Hamas nor any other militant group has identified the brothers as members.

Witnesses said the two brothers, armed with guns, clashed with the militia and that they were later targeted by drones. The witnesses also reported Israeli tanks opening fire.

Violence in Gaza has persisted despite the ceasefire and amid Israel’s war with Iran. Health officials in the territory say at least 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the Iran conflict began a month ago.

West Bank killing

Palestinians lined a narrow lane in the occupied West Bank’s Dheisheh refugee camp on Saturday as they laid to rest a teenager shot dead by Israeli forces.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry identified the 15-year-old as Adham Sayed Saleh Dahman, who died a day earlier from “serious wounds caused by Israeli forces’ gunfire”, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Wafa reported that he was killed during a military operation on Friday evening in the camp south of Bethlehem.

Dahman was shot in the abdomen, the report said, noting that another Palestinian was also wounded in the incident.

“He wanted to work to help me buy a house,” his mother, Hanan Shaalan, said. “He was in the ninth grade,” she said.

Hundreds of men, women and children gathered for Dahman’s funeral, with his mother and a group of local men carrying his body through the camp wrapped in Palestinian flag.

Raghad Shamroukh, a resident of the camp, said Israeli forces had been entering the area regularly in recent days. “They walk around the camp gate, harassing people for no reason,” Shamroukh said. “They fire tear gas, suffocating people. The children run away from them...This time they fired live ammunition.”

Assault on CNN crew condemned

An international media association on Saturday condemned what it described as a “violent assault” by Israeli soldiers who detained a CNN crew in the occupied West Bank this week.

A CNN team was reporting on the aftermath of an assault by Israeli settlers and the establishment of an illegal outpost near the Palestinian village of Tayasir on Thursday when it was detained by Israeli soldiers, the Foreign Press Association said.

“The soldiers aggressively targeted the crew and Palestinian civilians present, pointing their rifles at them,” the FPA said, even after the journalists identified themselves.

“The soldiers repeatedly tried to infringe the CNN crew’s right to film, ordering the crew to stop filming and threatening to confiscate the camera.

“Later, an IDF soldier approached CNN’s photojournalist from behind, placed him in a chokehold, slammed him to the ground, and damaged his camera,” said the association, which represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and Palestinian territories.

CNN confirmed the details in its own report on the incident, identifying the photojournalist as Cyril Theophilos. “This was not a misunderstanding... It was a violent assault on clearly identified journalists and a direct attack on press freedom,” the FPA said.

“The use of force was excessive and dangerous. Pointing rifles at journalists and civilians, physically assaulting a cameraman, and detaining a crew are actions that cross every line.

“Such behaviour reflects a deeply alarming pattern of hostility toward the media and cannot be tolerated under any circumstances,” the FPA said, demanding an investigation into the incident. The military said the incident will be probed.

“The soldiers’ conduct and statements in this incident do not represent the IDF, go against what is expected of IDF soldiers and will be investigated,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani wrote on X.

“I apologised privately, and I will say it again — this shouldn’t have happened. Our job is to maintain law and order, among that is allowing for freedom of the press.” The incident is the second such event involving CNN this month. Days ago, during Ramazan, a CNN producer was left with a fractured wrist following an “unprovoked assault” by Israeli police officers.

That incident happened when journalists were documenting worshippers praying outside the walls of the Old City in east Jerusalem.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2026