Middle East latest: Israeli fire kills 4 Palestinians in Gaza Strip, 3 in the occupied West Bank

Israeli fire has killed four people and wounded 14 in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, Palestinian officials said, even as a fragile ceasefire with Hamas has largely held.

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

Israel last week suspended supplies of goods and electricity to the territory of more than 2 million Palestinians as it tries to pressure the militant group to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended March 1. Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.

Hamas instead wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.

Here's the latest:

3 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank

The Palestinian Health Ministry says three Palestinians, including a 58-year-old woman, were killed by Israeli fire in the volatile West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said troops killed two militants in an exchange of fire in Jenin and arrested 10 others. It said its forces eliminated a third militant who had fired at them during the operation and destroyed two vehicles loaded with weapons.

Israel launched a large-scale military operation centered 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 fled their homes across the northern West Bank.

4 killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, Palestinian officials say

The Gaza Health Ministry says four people have been killed by Israeli fire and another 14 wounded over the past 24 hours.

The ministry said Tuesday that rescuers had also retrieved 32 bodies from under the rubble.

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

The latest deaths brought the overall Palestinian death toll from the war to 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 but does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its toll. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 people.