Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed at least 13 people, according to health officials, as US President Donald Trump was expected to announce his Board of Peace to oversee the fragile ceasefire.
Health officials and family members said at least one child was among the dead in northern Gaza following several strikes there as well as east of Gaza City. All 13 people were killed on Thursday.
Officials say that Trump is expected to announce next week his appointments to his Board of Peace, which he has said he will head, marking an important step forward for his Middle East peace plan. The process has moved slowly since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect nearly three months ago.
The U.S. official and another official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov would be the board’s “designated” director-general. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as the U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the UN Mideast peace envoy from 2015-2020. During that time, he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease Israel-Hamas tensions.
Separately, Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah targets in several areas of Lebanon on Friday, a day after the Lebanese army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm the group.
Under US pressure and amid fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming the resistance group, which was weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, including two months of all-out war that ended with a November 2024 ceasefire.