Gaza hospital reports shelling victims: infant, 14-year-old girl, two men, two women
A Palestinian carries the body of his 5-month-old brother, Ahmed Al-Nader, who was reportedly killed the previous day along with other family members in an Israeli shelling of a school-turned-shelter in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, before his funeral. PHOTO: AFP
Dozens of Palestinians gathered at a Gaza City hospital on Saturday to mourn six people, including children, who the civil defense said were killed by Israeli shelling of a shelter for displaced people.
The Israeli military said late Friday that troops had shot “suspicious individuals to eliminate the threat,” adding that it was reviewing the incident and “regretted any harm to non-involved individuals.”
Gaza’s civil defense agency, which acts as a rescue force under Hamas rule, initially said on Friday that Israeli shelling of a school-turned-shelter killed five people in the Tufa neighborhood east of Gaza City.
Agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal put the toll at six, including children, on Saturday, adding that two people were missing under the rubble.
The director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told AFP that the victims were a four-month-old infant, a 14-year-old girl, two men and two women.
Inside the hospital morgue on Saturday, relatives peered under the blankets to catch a last glimpse of their loved ones.
Outside, a grieving man clutched the body of an infant wrapped in a white shroud, according to AFP footage.
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Five other body bags were strewn on the ground as mourners prayed for the dead.
“This is not a truce, it is a bloodbath,” said Nafiz Al-Nader, who witnessed the attack.
“We want the bloodshed to stop and we don’t want to lose our loved ones every day,” he told AFP.
“Clear, repeated infringement”
In its statement on Friday, the Israeli military said: “During operational activity in the Yellow Line area in the northern Gaza Strip, a number of suspicious individuals were located in command structures west of the Yellow Line.”
As part of the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Israeli forces have withdrawn to positions east of the so-called Yellow Line.
“Shortly after identification, troops opened fire on the suspected individuals to eliminate the threat,” the military said, adding that it was “aware of the allegation of casualties in the area and the details are under investigation.”
Abdullah Al-Nader, who lost his relatives, told AFP that the shelling broke out suddenly in the evening.
“It was a safe area and a safe school and suddenly … they started firing shells without warning, targeting women, children and civilians,” he said.
In a statement on Saturday, Hamas denounced “a brutal crime committed against innocent civilians and a flagrant, repeated violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
The Palestinian movement urged cease-fire mediators and the administration of US President Donald Trump to “take responsibility for these violations and intervene immediately.”
The ceasefire remains fragile with both sides claiming violations and mediators fearing that both Israel and Hamas have stalled.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 401 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the area since the ceasefire took effect on October 10.
Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire, with the military citing three soldiers killed in the area since the ceasefire took effect.
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