ISRAELI strikes across Gaza have killed 29 people overnight and into Sunday, including young quintuplets.
The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike early on Sunday on a home in the central town of Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children’s grandfather, said his daughter, a schoolteacher, was with her husband and their six children when their house was struck.
The youngest child was 18 months, whilst the other victims were 10-year-old quintuplets. He said the father is in hospital.
“The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” he told reporters.
“What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? … Will this provide security to Israel?”
Another strike east of Deir al-Balah killed at least four people.
A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments in a residential building, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Another two strikes in central Gaza killed nine people, according to Al-Awda Hospital.
Late on Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group conceals fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas.
However, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military offensive since October 7, wiping out entire extended families and orphaning thousands of children.
Two-thirds of the victims are believed to be women and children, according to the United Nations.
The vast majority of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, whilst experts have warned of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio, with the first case confirmed on Saturday.
Israel’s war in Gaza was sparked when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1200 people and taking around 250 hostages.
Of those, some 110 are still believed to be inside Gaza, with Israeli authorities saying around a third are deceased.
More than 100 hostages were released in November during a week-long ceasefire.
