An Israeli strike in Gaza on Thursday killed a family of four, including two children, according to Palestinian hospital and security sources, while the Israeli military claimed it targeted a "military operative".
"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.
The Israeli military said it "struck a military structure... from which terrorists had previously been identified operating".
"The strike eliminated Muamen Abd al-Rahman Ahmad, a military operative who had taken a direct part in combat against IDF troops... in violation of the ceasefire," it added.
A source within Gaza's Hamas-run security forces stated that Israeli warplanes struck after midnight in Beit Lahia and separately in the heart of the Jabalia refugee camp, with forces also firing on ambulances and tents housing displaced people.
