Israel army says targeted Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza strike

The Israeli military said Saturday it had conducted an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in central Gaza, despite a ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

For the past two weeks there has been a fragile truce between Hamas, an ally of Islamic Jihad, and Israel -- although the latter reserves the right to defend itself and its forces from militant attacks.

"A short while ago, the IDF (army) conducted a precise strike in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip targeting a terrorist from the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation who planned to carry out an imminent terrorist attack against IDF troops," the military said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to journalists as he left Israel, did not address the strike directly, but he noted that incidents are common in the immediate aftermath of ceasefires.

"Every night will bring new challenges on how to keep it together," he said. "So we recognise that, but we also feel like we've made tremendous progress in the last 12 or 13 days."

Inside the Hamas-run territory, the Al-Awda hospital confirmed it had received wounded for treatment after a strike in Nuseirat.

"The hospital has received four injured people following the Israeli occupation's targeting of a civilian car in the Al-Ahli Club area in Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza," the hospital said.

The military said it would continue operations in Gaza "to remove any immediate threat" to its troops.