ISRAELI fire has killed four people and wounded 14 in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said today.

Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians who the army says had approached its troops or entered unauthorised areas in violation of the January truce.

The four killed included three brothers hit by a drone strike in central Gaza on Monday and a woman killed by a drone strike today in the southern city of Rafah, the ministry said.

The latest deaths brought the overall Palestinian death toll from the war to at least 48,503. More than 110,000 people have been wounded, according to the ministry.

The ministry says women and children make up most of the dead.

Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence for the claim.

Meanwhile, the Israelis have continued to attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says three Palestinians, including a woman, were killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank city of Jenin today.

The Israeli military said troops killed two Palestinians in an exchange of fire in Jenin and arrested 10 others. 

It said that its forces killed another Palestinian who had fired at them during the operation and destroyed two vehicles loaded with weapons.

Israel launched a large-scale military operation centred on Jenin shortly after reaching a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in January. 

Troops have destroyed homes and infrastructure, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been ordered to leave their homes or fled the violence.

In a new statement, Hamas has said that Israel is continuing to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid and basic materials into Gaza.

The Palestinian resistance group called the closure of the crossings into Gaza a violation of the ceasefire agreement and of international law that threatened the lives of innocent civilians.

Israel has also blocked electricity to Gaza.

Hamas said: “We call on the mediators to pressure the occupation to abide by its commitments and open the crossings immediately, to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid and end the policy of collective punishment pursued by the occupation authorities against our people.

“While we condemn the use of aid as a political blackmail card, we affirm that these aggressive policies will not break the will of our people, and will not succeed in achieving the occupation’s goals.”