Israeli air strike in Gaza City kills family of six, medics say

At least 12 Palestinians, including six members of the same family, were killed in three separate Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to local health officials.

Video footage shows the family’s apartment in Gaza City’s western Al Sabra district being set on fire overnight.

Firas al-Masri’s brother told the BBC that he, along with his wife Salsabeel and their three daughters and sons Faryal, Salma, Amira and Naim, were burned to death.

The Israeli military said its target was a Hamas officer and that the consequences of the attack were still being investigated.

Four more people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Al Samar area of ​​central Gaza city on Tuesday afternoon, Palestinian media quoted medics as saying.

They added that two more people were killed in an Israeli drone attack on a vehicle in the al-Zahra area, south of Gaza city.

The Israeli army has not yet made a statement regarding these attacks.

At least 1,168 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force last October, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

During the same period, four Israeli soldiers were killed in Palestinian attacks in Gaza.

The UN human rights office on Tuesday condemned the recent intensification of Israeli military offensives in Gaza.

Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said that at least 57 Palestinians, including six children and eight women, were killed in attacks on residences, a tent camp for displaced families and other populated areas between July 13 and 20.

He added that 34 of those people were “killed far away” from the so-called Yellow Line, which marks the area in Gaza controlled by Israeli forces.

“Even though nine months have passed since the ceasefire declaration, nowhere is safe for Palestinians in Gaza,” Al-Kheetan said.

He also warned that the killing of civilians “raises concerns about ongoing violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and other possible atrocity crimes in Gaza.”

The Israeli military has recently announced a series of attacks targeting members of Palestinian armed groups it says were involved in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a major military operation in Gaza, in which more than 73,290 people were killed, according to the region’s health ministry.