At least 32 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip late Friday and midday Saturday, Palestinian sources said, with attacks targeting a police station, residential apartments and displacement tents.
The strikes came as Israel said it was responding to a Hamas breach of the ceasefire, which Hamas rejected as "false and misleading".
One of the locations targeted by the Israeli airstrike was a tent area in the Mawasi area of the Khan Younis city in the south of Gaza.
A memorial ceremony was held, with mournful relatives of the deceased deeply heartbroken and filled with grief.
"I searched for my daughters and their brother. I called out to them, but no one responded. I tried to cover them with blankets to put out the fire, but they were all burned. I crawled out through an opening and screamed for the neighbors to help me. I saw my granddaughter and grandson among the victims, and after that, I don’t remember what happened," said Hanan Abu Hadid, a relative of the victims.
The witnesses recalled the harrowing scene during the strike, describing the chaos and devastation that unfolded before their eyes.
"Suddenly, the strike happened and the entire area was engulfed in flames. Young men tried to rescue the children and women. It was an extremely difficult scene, impossible to describe or imagine," said Mazen Abu Hadid, an eyewitness.
"We never imagined they would target children, burn them, and kill people while they were asleep in their tents. It was five in the morning, and everyone was sleeping. They struck my cousins' children, despite what was supposed to be a ceasefire in its second phase, which they said would allow us to live in safety," said Mohammed Abu Hadid, a relative of the victims.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that it conducted strikes across the Gaza Strip, targeting "four commanders and additional militants", as well as a weapons storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site, and two launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip.
It said in a statement that the strikes were in response to an incident on Friday in which eight militants were identified exiting a tunnel in eastern Rafah, an act it deemed a violation of the ceasefire.
Hamas later rejected the claim as "false and misleading", accusing Israel of making "baseless and flimsy claims" that reflect its disregard for mediators, guarantor states, and all parties involved in the broader peace process.
The group called on the international community and the UN to condemn the attacks, take concrete steps to halt them, hold Israeli leaders accountable, and end what it termed a "policy of impunity" that encourages further violence and destruction.
At least 32 Palestinians killed in latest Israeli airstrikes across Gaza
