(Reuters) An Israeli air strike launched on Wednesday morning (August 20) killed seven members of a family in central Gaza, among them a woman and three children, Palestinian health officials, and neighbors said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
“It was a whole family. It was the husband, the wife, three children, and her unborn child. It’s a whole family that the Israeli occupation targeted, without any previous warning,” Yahya Abu Safer, a neighbor said.
Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel for a second day on Wednesday after fighting resumed with the collapse of truce talks.
The Israeli military would not specify any of the targets of some 30 attacks across Gaza it said were in response to rocket fire aimed at Israel.
In addition to several deaths, more than 50 people were wounded in the air strikes across Gaza.
The violence shattered a 10-day period of calm since a first truce brokered by Egypt, about a month after the conflict flared on July 8.
Accusing Gaza Islamists of breaking the truce with rocket fire eight hours before it was to have expired, Israel recalled its negotiators from truce talks in Cairo on Tuesday, leaving the fate of Egyptian-brokered efforts to secure a lasting peace hanging in the balance.
Palestinian negotiators walked out of the talks later, blaming Israel for their failure.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says some 2,019 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the small, densely populated coastal territory since fighting started on July 8.
Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel have also been killed during the offensive, which the Jewish state launched with the stated aim of halting militant fire.
