Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least six people on Saturday, including two children and a cameraman of Al Jazeera news outlet, said Palestinian health officials.
Israel struck an apartment in Gaza City at around 2 am on Saturday, where an Associated Press reporter later saw rubble and pieces of concrete stained with blood. The strike killed two sisters, four-year-old Zina and 14-year-old Lana, whose bodies were sent to the morgue of Shifa Hospital, where they lay in white hospital bags, surrounded by family members.
“I was sitting at home. The rocket fell on us without a warning,” said their cousin Mohammad Safadi.
“This ceasefire the occupation and the negotiation team speak of … is this really a ceasefire? We are civilians. I never held a weapon,” he said.
Safadi’s forehead was wounded in the strike. He also said the attacks hurt his wife.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said it was looking into the incident.
Three more Israeli strikes on Saturday evening killed four people and injured several others.
The first strike targeted central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, killing three people, including Al Jazeera’s cameraman Ahmed Wishah, said Al-Aqsa hospital. Al Jazeera confirmed Wishah’s death.
The Israeli military released a statement which said it killed Wishah in a “precise strike”, claiming he was part of Hamas’ military wing and posed a threat to the IDF soldiers in the area.
Israeli strikes had also killed Wishah’s brother Mohamed, who was a correspondent for Al Jazeera, in April.
The second strike on Saturday evening hit a group of people in a tent camp of southern Gaza’s Muwasi area, killing one and wounding eight people, as per Nasser hospital.
The last strike in Gaza City injured at least four people, according to Shifa hospital.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in near-daily Israeli strikes since the ceasefire brokered by U.S President Donald Trump was declared in October last year. According to Israel, five of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.
