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GAZA’S CIVIL DEFENCE agency said that an overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Yunis refugee camp killed at least 11 people including three babies up to a year old.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal reported 11 killed “after the bombardment of the Al-Bayram family home in the Khan Yunis camp” in southern Gaza at around 3:00 am (1AM Irish time).
Bassal told AFP that eight of the dead had been identified and were all from the same extended family, including a boy and girl, both one-year-olds, and a month-old baby.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas that was triggered by the Palestinian militant group’s 7 October, 2023 attack.
On Friday, the civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 42 people across the war-ravaged territory, which has been under a total Israeli blockade since 2 March.
Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza, saying Hamas had diverted supplies. Israel says the blockade is meant to pressure the militants into releasing hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
UN agencies have urged Israel to lift restrictions, saying that Gazans were experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe and warning of famine.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military today said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the third such attack claimed by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in two days.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, in a video statement today, said the group had targeted a military installation in central Israel “using a Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile”.
An Israeli military statement earlier said that “a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted” after air raid sirens sounded in several areas of the country.
The latest missile fire comes a day after Israel said it had intercepted two missile in 12 hours – both claimed by the Huthis.
The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.
But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes starting 15 March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor Donald Trump.
Since March, the United States says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
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