Israeli strike kills Gaza City couple and four children
Health officials said the al-Masri family was asleep when an Israeli strike hit their home in Gaza City's Sabra neighborhood.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
An Israeli air strike killed a man, his wife and their four children in Gaza City on Tuesday, according to health officials cited by Al Jazeera. The attack underlined the continuing danger to Palestinians in Gaza despite a US-backed ceasefire agreement reached more than nine months ago.
Health officials said the strike hit the al-Masri family home in the Sabra neighborhood while the family was sleeping, Al Jazeera reported. The dead were identified as Firas al-Masri, his wife, Salsabeel al-Masri, their three daughters and their son.
Al Jazeera reported that the deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes since the ceasefire deal to more than 1,150, most of them civilians. The network said the agreement has stopped full-scale fighting, while Israeli strikes have continued on an almost daily basis.
The Israeli military confirmed it carried out the strike, saying it had been targeting a Hamas member, according to Al Jazeera. The military said it was still examining the outcome of the attack.
Reuters reported that video it obtained showed rescue workers trying to extinguish fires at the home and removing bodies wrapped in white shrouds. The footage showed the aftermath of the strike in a residential area, according to Reuters.
Firas al-Masri's father, Abu Yusuf al-Masri, told Reuters the blast happened while the family slept. Standing outside the damaged home, he said relatives could not rescue the children and adults from the flames and destruction.
“We were unable to save our grandchildren and children from the flames and the devastation. Around five or six were martyred, most of them children and women, without mercy and without any prior warning,” Abu Yusuf al-Masri told Reuters.
He added: “There is no relative calm, and there is no safe place at all.”
The strike came as mediators including Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the United States have been trying to advance US President Donald Trump's proposal to end the war in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported. The plan calls for Hamas to disarm and for Israeli withdrawals, but Al Jazeera said there has been little visible progress.
The United Nations has criticized the continuing Israeli strikes. Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesman for the UN human rights office, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that Palestinians in Gaza still had no safe place nine months after the ceasefire was announced.
Al-Kheetan said Israeli attacks killed at least 57 Palestinians from July 13 to July 20, including six children and eight women. He said those figures did not include the al-Masri family.
“The killing of civilians in these attacks raises concerns of continuing violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and other possible atrocity crimes in Gaza,” Al-Kheetan said. He added that deliberately attacking civilians is a war crime under international law.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.