The airstrike struck a house and an adjacent warehouse sheltering displaced people, according to local hospital officials.
An Israel airstrike in Gaza killed at least 18 people, all from the same family, on Saturday, hours after mediators expressed optimism for a between Israel and Hamas following 10 months of war.
Saturday’s airstrike hit a house and adjacent warehouse sheltering displaced people at the entrance to the town of Zawaida, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter there counted the dead.
Among those killed was Sami Jawad al-Ejlah, a wholesaler who coordinated with the Israeli military to bring meat and fish to Gaza. The dead also included his two wives, 11 of their children ages 2 to 22, the children’s grandmother and three other relatives, according to a list provided by the hospital.
« He was a peaceful man », said Abu Ahmed, a neighbor. More than 40 civilians were sheltering in the house and warehouse at the time, he said.
