Israel killed at least 11 people across the Gaza Strip late Saturday, including three children and their parents, local health officials said, despite a cease-fire that has failed to end the violence.
A family of five, three children and their parents, were killed when an Israeli strike hit a residential apartment in northwest Gaza City, according to the territory’s civil defense agency.
“The family’s only surviving member is one child, who was not inside the house at the time of the strike,” Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, told AFP.
Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital confirmed it had received the five bodies.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said a strike had been carried out in Gaza City Saturday targeting a Hamas member.
She said the military was still assessing the results.
Gaza resident Mousa al-Aimawi said the strike came without warning.
“Suddenly, there was a missile hitting the building. No one knew, no one, no warning, nothing,” he told AFP.
“They hit it without caring that there are civilians, children, women, girls.”
Mohammed Kali, who lives in the same building, said he saw several people lying on the ground.
“There were bodies scattered on the ground – women and children dead, and elderly people too,” he said.
AFP footage from the scene showed large sections of the building’s facade torn away, as rescue teams helped the wounded.
Onlookers picked through shattered concrete blocks and twisted metal, searching for any belongings that could be salvaged.
Three more people were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a group of civilians in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, the agency reported.
Al-Shifa hospital confirmed it had received the three bodies.
Hours later, Bassal announced the death of a woman after “Israeli artillery shelling” struck “a tent sheltering displaced people” east of the Zeitoun neighborhood.
Gaza’s al-Ahli Hospital confirmed it had received the body of the woman along with several wounded individuals, including her daughter.
Several people were wounded and three others remain missing in the targeted area, the spokesman added.
Health officials said two other people were killed elsewhere in Israeli attacks in Gaza.
The military did not offer an immediate comment on those attacks.
Violence has persisted despite the cease-fire.
Before Friday’s casualties, at least 1,144 Palestinians had been killed since the truce took effect last October, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israel’s two-year genocidal war on Gaza has killed over 73,000 people, mostly women and children.
The war was triggered by the 2023 Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which caused 1,200 deaths in southern Israel.
