Gaza City: A Palestinian father and his 12-year-old son were killed and 10 civilians hurt in an Israeli air strike on a civilian house in Gaza, medics said.
Bahjat al-Zaalan, 37, died in the early morning strike on
his house, which is sited next to a militant training ground,
while his son Ramadan died of his wounds in hospital later,
the Palestinian medics said yesterday.
More than half of the wounded are children, emergency
services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya said.
"Seven children were wounded, two of them very seriously,"
he said.
The strike, which targeted a Hamas militant training
ground nearby, caused the home to collapse, and several other
houses nearby were also partly destroyed or burned.
The Israeli army expressed regret that civilians were hurt
but blamed Gaza`s Hamas rulers for operating within
residential areas.
Following the strike, Gaza militants fired 10 rockets at
southern Israel, a police spokeswoman said. None of the
rockets caused damage or injury.
Israeli media reported Friday night that Israeli top
military brass was holding consultations on the latest
developments.
The military initially issued a statement that only
confirmed it carried out two raids on "terror activity sites,"
without mentioning the civilian casualties.
But a spokeswoman later expressed regret that civilians
were hurt, while noting that "additional explosions at the
sites were caused by rockets stored near the targeted terror
activity sites."
PTI
