Four children among at least 10 killed in Israeli strike in Gaza, local media reports

At least 10 Palestinians have been killed, including four children, in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Gaza, local media has reported.

The strike hit a residential housing unit in the Al Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The news agency reported at least four children and three women are among those killed in the bombing, whilst several more people remain missing under the rubble of the destroyed home.

Two others were killed by Israeli shelling on Gaza City and Jabalia in the north, and three in al-Mawasi in the south, the report said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another strike overnight on Saturday hit a tent in Khan Younis with Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza‘s Civil Defense said.

Palestinians search their belongings among destruction following an airstrike on Palestinian tents in al-Mawasi area, Khan Yunis (Anadolu via Getty Images)

They followed airstrikes earlier this week that hit a tent camp on Tuesday and a United Nations school sheltering displaced on Wednesday.

Last month, talks for a ceasefire in Qatar broke down without a breakthrough. After Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a “bridging proposal” for a deal, US secretary of state Antony Blinken called on Hamas to “do the same”.

Mr Blinken said he then hoped Israel and Hamas, with help from other countries, could agree to a deal.

Israeli soldiers take up position next to buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip (AP)

The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during an attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90 percent of Gaza‘s 2.3 million population, and plunged the territory into a severe humanitarian crisis.

Gaza‘s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says women and children make up just over half of the dead.

Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war.