Eight Palestinians, including a 5 year old, killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza

Palestinian medical sources reported on Friday at night that eight Palestinians, mainly members of one family, were killed and nearly eighty others were injured when the Israeli air force fired missiles at the house of one of the leaders of the Islamic Jihad in Al Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

IMEMC Photo by Rami Al Meghari

Eyewitnesses reported that the shelling targeted the house of Ayman Fayid, 42, one of the leaders of the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement. The house completely collapsed over its residents due to the shelling.

On its website, the Al Quds Brigades confirmed that Fayid was killed in the strike and that six members of his family were injured in addition to dozens of injuries among residents of nearby houses.

Dr. Moawiya Hassanen, head of the Emergency Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, said that eight residents were confirmed dead and 40 others were injured, 10 seriously.

Some of the injured residents were transferred to the Al Aqsa Hospital while others were transferred to Nasser and Al Shifa Hospitals.

Medical sources confirmed that eight residents will killed in the attack and several others were injured, some seriously.

Iyad Hussein, one of the neighbors, told the IMEMC that he was sitting with his family when they heard a loud explosion and saw one of the walls of his house being knocked down by the blast “We were sitting at home, as usual, abruptly we heard a loud explosion”, he stated, “and then we saw the wall in my how knocked down, we did not hear ant warplanes overhead”

The number of casualties is expected to increase as some residents are still buried under the rubble of the shelled house. Several nearby houses were damaged by the blast.

Currently, civil defense teams and medics are evacuating the killed and the wounded residents while other teams are still searching under the rubble

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that the Israeli military spokesperson denied any relation to the attack.

Nabeel Abu Rodeina, spokesperson of the Palestinian president, denounced the attack and said Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip. He also called on the Israeli government to stop its escalation against the Palestinian people and stated that these attacks and assassination negatively affect the peace process and hinder its progress.

Meanwhile, the Al Quds Brigades vowed fierce retaliation to this attack and to the ongoing Israeli attacks and violations.

IMEMC Photo by Rami Al Meghari

IMEMC Photo by Rami Al Meghari

school books of the victim's son - IMEMC Photo by Rami Al Meghari