Family of four killed in Israeli attack on house in Gaza

An Israeli attack in Gaza has killed a family of four including two children, Palestinian hospital and security sources said.

"The bodies of four members of the Ahmad family were recovered in pieces after an Israeli strike hit a house in the Beit Lahia Project area in the northern Gaza Strip," an official at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said, identifying the children as aged 12 and eight.

A Palestinian security source in Gaza said that Israeli warplanes struck after midnight in Beit Lahia and separately in the heart of the Jabalia refugee camp, with Israeli forces also firing on tents of displaced people and ambulances.

"Israel continues its violations in the Gaza Strip," the security source said.

The Israeli military said it was checking the reports.

In October last year, Israel agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States but since then has advanced further into Gaza.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,300 people since the ceasefire was announced, according to the Gaza health ministry, whose figures are considered generally reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has identified five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed no let-up in strikes targeting Hamas, which led the 7 October 2023 attack against Israel.

He has said Israel should not pull out from Gaza until Hamas gives up all of its weapons.