At least 17 dead in Israeli attack in central Gaza, health officials say

HISTORY: At least 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli attack in the Gaza city of Zawayda on Saturday, health officials said.

The attack came after Israel issued new evacuation orders, citing Hamas rocket fire nearby.

Abu Ahmed Hassan, a neighbor and witness, spoke to Reuters afterwards and said:

“They were sleeping in their beds, they were children and babies, when three rockets targeted their house. The location is obvious and known, it is known that Abu Jawad is a fish and meat merchant. If they attack merchants, what about other people?”

According to health authorities, most of those killed in the attack were members of the same family, including eight children and four women.

The Israeli military then said it had attacked militant targets in an area from which rockets had been fired at Israeli troops…

and added that the incident was being investigated.

In Nuseirat, cameras also recorded the moment an Israeli attack hit a residential building…

when man and child ran for cover

After the explosion, Palestinians could be seen carrying injured people from the fire in the central Gaza Strip.

Some tried to extinguish the flames with buckets of water.

The majority of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have been displaced by the Israeli offensive that has been ongoing for ten months.

The conflict began on October 7, when Hamas fighters invaded Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources.

:: December 2023

:: Rafah, Gaza

According to Palestinian health authorities, Israel's subsequent military campaign left large parts of the Gaza Strip in ruins and killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

:: Zawaya, Gaza

Ceasefire talks in Doha, brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt, were suspended on Friday. Negotiators will meet again next week.

:: File

The Israeli negotiating team expressed “cautious optimism” on Saturday about the possibility of an agreement, according to a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.