Gaza rescuers say Israeli strike kills 15 from same family
GAZA STRIP
Gaza's civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike in the early hours of Saturday killed 15 people from a Palestinian family, including nine children and three women.
The strike hit the home of the Ajlah family in Al-Zawaida neighbourhood of central Gaza, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. The Israeli military did not offer an immediate comment.
"The toll from the Israeli strike on the Ajlah family home and their warehouse in Al-Zawaida is 15 dead," Bassal said.
Bassal gave a list of those killed, including nine children and three women.
A witness said the strike took place shortly after midnight.
"Three rockets hit the house directly," Ahmed Abu al-Ghoul told AFP as rescuers pulled bodies from the rubble of the flattened house.
"There were a lot of children and women inside... What have they done to deserve this?"
AFPTV footage of the aftermath, captured after dawn, showed rescuers searching for bodies under piles of collapsed concrete blocks.
More than 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas has left vast swathes of Gaza in ruins.
To a degree never seen before, Israel is killing entire Palestinian families, a loss even more devastating than the physical destruction and the massive displacement.
The killing of families across generations is a key part of the genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice. Separately, the International Criminal Court prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The deaths across generations slice through the Palestinian society, history, and future. Entire families are buried in mass graves, in hospital courtyards or beneath staircases in the homes where they were killed.
The war broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Hamas also seized 251 people during the attack, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,005 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run territory, mostly women and children.
