Israeli fire kills parents and their infant in Gaza, medics say

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa

CAIRO/GAZA, May 24 (Reuters) – An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in a refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday left three people dead, including a six-month-old child, health officials said.

Medics named the three who died in the Nuseirat refugee camp as Mohammad Abu Mallouh, the infant’s father, Alaa Zaqlan, the mother, and their child, Osama.

Later on Sunday, Israeli gunfire killed a Palestinian man in the north of the enclave, near a UN-run medical clinic in Jabalia refugee camp, medics said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on either of the incidents.

At the morgue in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, relatives of three dead family members arrived to bid farewell to their white-shrouded bodies.

“A man sleeping along with his wife and their 6-month infant son in their bed. The rocket fell on his bed, and it took him, with his wife and son, leaving behind six young girls,” said the infant’s grandmother, Umm Hamza Abu Mallouh, with tears in her eyes.

Israel has recently resumed issuing evacuation orders to residents of the enclave — a practice that had largely subsided after an October ceasefire.

But, Yehia Abu Mallouh, whose brother was killed in the strike, said they woke up to the sound of an explosion, without any prior warning.

“We discovered that my brother’s house has been targeted while he was sleeping safely in his home. We found them (the family) cut into pieces without prior warning,” he told Reuters.

“The point of the ceasefire is supposed to be peace, with no strikes or anything, but the enemy surprised them at night,” he added.

The October ceasefire, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, has failed to halt Israeli attacks in Gaza, with Israel and Hamas deadlocked in indirect talks over the militant group’s disarmament.

The ceasefire left Israel in control of more than half of Gaza, with Hamas controlling a sliver of territory along the coast.

Some 880 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce came into effect, according to figures from Gaza health officials that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants during the same period, according to the Israeli military.

Hamas does not disclose figures for casualties among its fighters. Israel says its post-ceasefire strikes are aimed at preventing attacks or stopping people from approaching its armistice line with Hamas.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Mahmoud Issa in GazaEditing by Christina Fincher)