Israeli strikes kill 11 in Gaza despite ceasefire, health officials say

Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people on Saturday, including four members of the same family, despite an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, AFP reported.

The two sides continue to exchange accusations of violating the truce, while efforts to reach a permanent end to the war remain deadlocked.

According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, an overnight Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing four members of the Al-Safadi family, including a husband, wife and their two daughters. Twelve others were injured in the attack.

Al-Shifa hospital confirmed receiving the bodies of the four family members, including two children.

“Around 2 o’clock, my cousins were asleep when a missile struck them. They have no connection to Hamas, nor are they involved in anything. They’re just innocent children,” said Nael al-Safadi, a relative.

Footage from the scene showed extensive damage to the apartment, with part of the exterior wall destroyed and household belongings scattered among the rubble.

“By God, I still feel as though I’m in a dream — I never expected this to happen to us,” Mohammad al-Safadi, who survived the strike, told AFP.

“I’m a civilian. I swear to God I’ve never carried a weapon or fired one. What do you want from me? Go after whoever you’re after, what’s my fault in this?”

In a separate incident, Al-Shifa hospital reported receiving one body after an Israeli drone strike near an intersection in northern Gaza City.

Later in the day, six more people were killed in separate Israeli attacks, including three in a strike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the civil defence agency.

Among those killed was Ahmed Wishah, a Palestinian journalist and cameraman working with Qatar-based Al Jazeera. The network condemned “the continuation of these crimes” against its journalists.

The Israeli military, however, described Wishah as a “Hamas terrorist”.

The military did not immediately comment on the other reported deaths, which were confirmed by hospitals in Gaza.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 1,012 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since the ceasefire came into effect on Oct 10 last year. The ministry operates under Hamas authority, and its figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five fatalities among its personnel during the same period.