An Israeli air strike killed at least five Palestinians, four of them women, in an apartment building in Gaza City early on Saturday. Among the dead were a Christian mother, Maisa Abu Dawoud, and her daughter Mary, health and church officials said.
Two missiles hit the apartment in the Rimal neighbourhood, destroying it and starting a fire, the civil defence service said, Dawn reported. Al-Shifa hospital said the dead were two women and their daughters, and a young man. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
“We pulled them out”
“We were asleep and suddenly heard continuous strikes and heavy explosions. The children woke up startled and started running and screaming,” said a neighbour, Ahmed Al-Dahdouh.
“We ran out and found that our neighbour’s house was struck and there were dismembered martyrs, women, men and children. We started to pull them out, they were scattered under the rubble.”
A funeral in Gaza’s oldest church
Maisa and Mary were buried from the Greek Orthodox church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City. Friends and relatives, Muslims among them, gathered to pay their respects.
“Today is essentially the worst day of my life. I lost my mother and my grandmother today,” said Fouad Al-Najjar.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem mourned them and prayed “for an end to the war and bombardment, for the protection of civilian lives, and for a just peace”. Around 1,000 Christians live in Gaza, about 1 percent of its more than two million people.
1,400 killed since the ceasefire
At least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since last October’s US-brokered ceasefire, according to Gaza health officials. Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period. Israel claims Hamas has been rearming, which Hamas denies.
Palestinian figures put the total killed since October 2023 at more than 74,000, with over 175,000 injured and 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed.
Another winter in tents
In Khan Younis, displaced families protested on Saturday, appealing for tents, blankets and food before winter. “Our tents are torn and our stomachs are empty. Do not leave us to the unknown,” read one sign. In the Fash Farsh area alone, 35 camps shelter about 40,000 people, a camp supervisor told Anadolu. Last winter, rain flooded tents and children died in the cold.
Olive groves seized in the West Bank
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers backed settlers who seized Palestinian olive groves on the first day of the harvest, Dawn reported, citing AFP.
- Beita: soldiers forced farmers and solidarity activists off their land and detained several Palestinians and six journalists
- Asira al-Qibliya: soldiers fired tear gas at farmers, setting dry fields on fire
- Injuries: the Palestine Red Crescent said at least 12 Palestinians were taken to hospital after settler beatings
- Deaths: settlers killed one Palestinian on Thursday and another on Friday
“This is our land and, God willing, we will remain steadfast,” said farmer Mohammed Hamayel.
Why it matters
A mother and daughter killed in their sleep, a family in tents facing winter, and farmers driven from their trees: a year after the ceasefire, Palestinians are still paying with their lives. Read our earlier report on Israeli strikes in Gaza.
This article draws on reporting by Dawn, The Express Tribune, AFP and Anadolu Agency.
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