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

GAZA CITY: An Israeli airstrike killed a couple and their four children in Gaza City on Tuesday when their home caught fire in the Sabra neighbourhood, according to health officials.

Medics said those killed were Firas Al-Masri, his wife Salsabeel, and their four children — three daughters and one son. The Israeli military confirmed it carried out the strike and said the intended target was a Hamas militant, adding that it was still examining the outcome.

Video obtained by Reuters showed rescue workers trying to extinguish the blaze at the house and recover bodies wrapped in white shrouds. Firas Al-Masri's father, Abu Yusuf Al-Masri, told Reuters the blast happened while the family was asleep.

Speaking outside the damaged home, he described the loss of his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

We were unable to save our grandchildren and children from the flames and the devastation. Around five or six (people) were martyred, most of them children and women, without mercy and without any prior warning,

He also said:

There is no relative calm and there is no safe place, at all,

Further strikes reported on Tuesday

Later in the day, Palestinian medics said two more Israeli airstrikes hit a vehicle in central Gaza and an association in Gaza City, killing at least six more people and wounding others. That brought the reported death toll from Israeli strikes on Tuesday to 12.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on those two later incidents. Since Friday, however, it has said in four separate strikes that it killed four militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. According to the Israeli military, three of them had taken part in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and had held Israeli hostages seized during that assault.

Violence continues despite ceasefire

According to Gaza health officials, more than 1,160 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israeli attacks since a US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in October. Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.

The ceasefire halted full-scale fighting but has not ended near-daily Israeli strikes. Israel says it is targeting militants. Over the same period, four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza.

Mediators including Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States have been working to advance a plan by US President Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza. The proposal calls for Hamas to disarm and for Israeli withdrawals, but there has been little visible progress.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Gaza health officials say Israel's ensuing military campaign has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians. Nearly all of Gaza's 2 million residents now live in a narrow coastal area, mostly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under harsh conditions in territory controlled by Hamas.