Gaza City airstrike kills five, including four women, as ceasefire deal stalls
An Israeli airstrike destroyed an apartment building in Gaza City early on Saturday, killing at least five Palestinians, including four women, health and civil defence officials in the territory said.
Medics said a Christian mother and her daughter were among those killed. The strike levelled the building and started a fire. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, and details of the strike, including what was targeted, were not immediately clear.
Witnesses described being woken by explosions in the pre-dawn hours.
"We were asleep and suddenly heard continuous strikes and heavy explosions. The children woke up startled and started running and screaming," said Ahmed Al-Dahdouh, who lives nearby.
"We ran out and found that our neighbour's house was struck. We started to pull them out; they were scattered under the rubble," he told Reuters.
Mr. Al-Dahdouh said the dead included a Christian mother and her daughter. "We are Muslims and these are our Christian brethren, who are not involved in anything. They are peaceful people, and everybody loves them, and now we pulled out their bodies, a mother and her daughter," he said.
Gaza is home to a small Christian community that has lived in the territory for generations and whose numbers have declined in recent decades.
Last year's ceasefire, brokered by the United States, provides for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza. But little progress has been made towards implementing a wider agreement to end the conflict, which includes terms for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to withdraw its troops. Mediators, including the United States, Egypt and Qatar, have been trying to move the deal towards its next phase.
Israel says Hamas has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of the ceasefire, and has stepped up strikes on the group in recent weeks. Hamas has denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal, and accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza peace deal.
Gaza health officials say at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire last October. Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period. These figures, as with all casualty claims in the conflict, could not be independently verified.
Under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian infrastructure such as residential buildings are protected from attack, and any military operation must distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Saturday's strike underlines how fragile the truce remains. Both sides accuse the other of violations, negotiations on the next stage of the agreement are stalled, and families in Gaza continue to bear the cost of a conflict that has yet to reach a lasting settlement.
