Gaza City, Gaza - Gaza's civil defense agency said an Israeli strike in the center of the territory on Wednesday killed three journalists despite a ceasefire agreement.

A US-sponsored truce in Gaza has supposedly been in effect since October 10, though Israel has repeatedly attacked the Palestinian territory in the weeks since.

In a statement, the civil defense said "the bodies of the three journalists killed in an Israeli air strike in the Al-Zahra area southwest of Gaza City were transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah."

The agency named the dead as Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat, and Anas Ghneim.

Shaat had contributed regularly to AFP as a photo and video journalist, but at the time of the strike he was not on assignment for the agency.

The civil defense, which operates as a rescue force, said in an earlier statement that an Israeli drone strike had targeted "a civilian vehicle" near Al-Zahra.

Israeli forces have killed at least 466 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory's health ministry.

UNICEF said last week that Israel had slaughtered at least 100 Palestinian children in Gaza in that time.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that Israeli forces killed at least 29 Palestinian journalists in Gaza between December 2024 and December 2025.

The most deadly single attack was a so-called "double-tap" strike on a hospital in south Gaza on August 25, which killed five journalists, including two contributors to international news agencies Reuters and the Associated Press.

In total, since the start of the Gaza siege in October 2023, nearly 220 journalists have died, making Israel the biggest killer of journalists worldwide for three years running, RSF data shows.

Last week, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff announced the start of phase two of the Gaza ceasefire, saying it aimed to pave the way for reconstruction and the demilitarization of all armed factions in the territory.