"The attack took us by surprise. I could hear the children crying out for help, yet I was unable to save them," Ahmed al-Masri, a survivor of the strike, said.
A relative carries the body of Palestinian girl Ameera al-Masri, who was killed along with her parents and all three of her siblings in an Israeli strike on their apartment, in Gaza City, Jul 21, 2026. (Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas)
22 Jul 2026 05:35AM
GAZA CITY: Gaza's civil defence agency and witnesses said Israeli strikes killed 12 people, including a family of six, in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday (Jul 21).A fragile ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, but it has not halted the violence in the Gaza Strip, and efforts to secure a lasting agreement to end the war have stalled.One airstrike hit a house belonging to the Al-Masri family in central Gaza City in the north, according to the territory's civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas.Witnesses said six members of the family were killed, including four children. Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital said it had received the bodies and the wounded.An Israeli military source told AFP that a strike had targeted "a Hamas terrorist" in the area, without elaborating.At the site, AFP journalists observed extensive damage to the charred multi-storey house, whose roof had almost completely collapsed.
