Health officials in Gaza say an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed an entire family of six and set their home on fire in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.
Medics identified the victims as Firas Al-Masri, his wife Salsabeel, and their four children — three daughters and a son — all of whom died when the strike hit their family’s home.
The Israeli military acknowledged carrying out the strike, stating that the intended target was a Hamas militant. Officials said they were still assessing the outcome of the attack.
In a series of separate strikes carried out since Friday, the Israeli military reported killing three militants affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. According to the military, two of those individuals had participated in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and had been holding Israeli hostages taken during that assault.
Tuesday’s deaths contribute to a mounting casualty count. Gaza health officials report that more than 1,150 Palestinians — the majority of them civilians — have been killed in Israeli strikes since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect last October.
Hamas does not typically report its own casualties.
While the ceasefire brought major combat operations to a halt, Israeli airstrikes have continued on an almost daily basis. Israel maintains that its strikes are directed at militant targets. During that same period, four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants operating inside Gaza.
The broader conflict began when Hamas-led fighters launched an attack on southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Gaza health officials say Israel’s military campaign that followed has now killed more than 73,000 Palestinians.
Nearly all of Gaza’s roughly 2 million residents have been pushed into a narrow coastal strip, where most are living in makeshift tents or badly damaged structures under Hamas control.
