Israeli strike on Gaza refugee camp kills at least four, including two children and pregnant mother
At least four Palestinians, including a boy and his pregnant mother, were killed by an Israeli airstrike in the war-torn Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.
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The strike on Sunday hit a house in Nuseirat, an urban refugee camp in central Gaza, killing a couple and their young son, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The fourth fatality was taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat.
The boy's young brother was wounded in the strike, the hospital said.
"We were sleeping and got up to the strike of a missile," said Mahmoud al-Muhtaseb, a neighbour. "The strike was strong. There was no prior warning."
Another strike on Sunday afternoon hit a police vehicle on the south-north Salah al-Din route at the entrance of the central town of Zawaida, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said.
The strike killed eight police officers, including Colonel Iyad Ab Yousef, a senior police official in central Gaza, the ministry said.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll. It said 14 others were wounded.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on either strike.
Hamas oversees a police force that maintained a high degree of public security after the militants seized power in Gaza in 2007, while also cracking down on dissent.
The police largely melted away during the war as Israeli forces seized large areas of Gaza and targeted Hamas security forces with airstrikes.
But following an October ceasefire, they have reappeared in Gaza streets and reasserted control in areas not controlled by the Israeli military. The deaths were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the ceasefire has still seen almost daily Israeli fire.
Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing more than 650 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
Israel says it has responded to violations of the ceasefire or targeted wanted militants.
But about half of those killed have been women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
They were among more than 72,200 Palestinians killed in the war which was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7 2023.
The militant attack killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage.
The health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations.
Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.