Israeli airstrikes killed 27 people in Gaza on Saturday in one of the deadliest days since the ceasefire.
The IDF claimed that it was targeting commanders and sites belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad when it struck a police station, residential homes and tent encampments across the beleaguered strip.
A fragile ceasefire has been continually undermined by violence, with more than 500 people killed in Israeli assaults since October. Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli warplanes struck the Sheikh Radwan station west of Gaza City earlier today, killing ten police officers and detainees, medics and police in Gaza reported.
Further airstrikes hit at least two houses in Gaza City and a tent encampment housing displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis, further south, local officials said.
The strike on an apartment building in Gaza City killed three children, their aunt and their grandmother, according to Shifa Hospital.
Samer al-Atbash, uncle to the three children, said: “We found my three little nieces in the street. They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?”
“The three girls are gone, may God have mercy on them,” he said, adding that the family were civilians with no connection to Hamas. Names were written on body bags lined up at the foot of a wall.
Video footage from Gaza City depicted charred, blackened walls and widespread destruction at an apartment within a multi-storey building, with debris strewn both inside and on the street outside.
Nasser Hospital said the strike on the tent camp in Khan Younis caused a fire, killing seven, including a father, his three children and three grandchildren.
Atallah Abu Hadaiyed said he had just finished praying when the explosion occurred.
“We came running and found my cousins lying here and there, with fire raging. We don’t know if we’re at war or at peace, or what. Where is the truce? Where is the ceasefire they talked about?” he said.
The Israeli military said it was responding to a breach of the US-brokered ceasefire. Hamas said that Israel had violated the truce. It did not say whether any of its members or facilities had been hit.
The IDF said that it struck weapon caches and manufacturing sites, in addition to targeting Hamas commanders.
