Israeli fire kills three people in Gaza, three months on from truce

CAIRO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Israeli fire killed at least three Palestinians in two separate incidents across the enclave, local health authorities said, as tension rises over continued violence since an October ceasefire.

Medics said one Palestinian was killed in the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, in an area under Palestinian control, while two others were killed in southern Gaza in the town of Bani Suhaila east of Khan Younis, an area Israel still occupies.

The Israeli military said forces fired at a "terrorist" who crossed into the area under their control in the northern Gaza Strip, posing an immediate threat.

In the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said it killed another "terrorist" in an airstrike after he approached troops operating in the area, posing an immediate threat.

Fighting has largely abated since Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October, two years into the war, but it has not stopped entirely. Israel and Hamas have traded blame over the violations of the deal.

A Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday that the group urged mediators to intervene to stop "daily Israeli killings that aim to derail the ceasefire deal."

More than 440 Palestinians, most of them civilians according to Gaza health officials, have been killed since the truce, as well as three Israeli soldiers.