Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill 12, including family of six

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency and witnesses said Israeli strikes killed 12 people, including a family of six, in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday.

A fragile ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, but it has not halted the violence in the Gaza Strip, and efforts to secure a lasting agreement to end the war have stalled.

One airstrike hit a house belonging to the Al-Masri family in central Gaza City in the north, according to the territory’s civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas.

Witnesses said six members of the family were killed, including four children. Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital said it had received the bodies and the wounded.

An Israeli military source told AFP that a strike had targeted “a Hamas group members” in the area, without elaborating.

At the site, AFP journalists observed extensive damage to the charred multi-storey house, whose roof had almost completely collapsed.

Relatives gathered at the hospital. Some wept as the body of a girl was placed in a white plastic bag and laid alongside the other bodies wrapped in thick blankets.

The “attack took us by surprise”, said Ahmed al-Masri, who identified himself to AFP as a survivor of the strike.

“I could hear the children crying out for help, yet I was unable to save them,” he added.

“My brother’s entire family was wiped from the civil registry: him, his wife and their four children.”

He said he had helped his children escape through a window, while flames devoured the building.

Another witness, Youssef al-Masri, said the strike took place around 2:00 am.

“While we were asleep, we heard the sound of a massive explosion and found that the house had been shelled, destroyed and engulfed in flames,” he said.

The civil defence agency said six other people were killed on Tuesday in another Israeli strike in Gaza, where violence has persisted despite the ceasefire.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israeli attacks had killed at least 57 Palestinians from July 13 to 20.

“The Israeli military has intensified its attacks in Gaza in recent days,” UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva.

“Nowhere is safe for Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Israeli army has in recent days announced a series of strikes in the territory targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad members.

At least 1,168 Palestinians have been killed since the truce took effect last October, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor.

Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence there.