Israeli strikes kill 11 people in Gaza City, medics say

At least 11 Palestinians have been killed, including women and children, and dozens wounded in Israeli air strikes across Gaza City, according to medical sources and eyewitnesses.

Simultaneous strikes were launched by at least three Israeli helicopters against four residential buildings in the Sheikh Radwan and Tel al-Hawa areas, and the Shati refugee camp early on Thursday, causing powerful explosions, the BBC was told.

Videos posted on social media, said to show the aftermath of the attacks, showed distressing images of people trying to leave a building engulfed in fire in Shati camp.

The Israeli military said the strikes killed four senior members of Hamas’s General Security Apparatus.

It identified them as Hassan Labad, the deputy head of the apparatus, along with three subordinates, Asim Shubair, Abdullah Abu Kaloub, and Mohammed Abu Marq.

Local sources said earlier that one of the strikes had targeted Labad, and that he was killed along with his wife and three of their children.

A spokesman for the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency also said the dead included two children with disabilities from the Labad family and three women.

Israel has carried out repeated air strikes in Gaza despite the US-brokered ceasefire deal, accusing Hamas of rearming and rebuilding its forces.

More than 940 people have been killed since the ceasefire took effect last October, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

And with the world’s attention focused on conflicts elsewhere in the Middle East, the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, with a worsening humanitarian crisis and reported plans by Israel to increase the area of land under its control to 70%.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 72,950 people have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry.