Palestinian firefighters extinguish a fire following an Israeli air strike on a house, in the Gaza Strip. (File photo)
Five members of a Palestinian family have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a home in central Gaza, as the Zionist regime continues to bombard the besieged coastal enclave on the 47th day of the assault.
The strike on Saturday morning brought the total death toll in Gaza to 2,098 with more than 10,550 injured according to Gaza medical authorities, of whom the United Nations has identified 70 percent as civilians.
The strike hit the home of the Dahrouj family al-Zawayda neighborhood in the central Gaza Strip, killing a couple and their three children, medical sources said.
Spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra said that medical sources managed to recover five bodies after an Israeli airstrike leveled the home of the Dahrouj family.
One of the victims was a woman who was identified as Hayat Abed Rabbo Dahrouj, 47, while the bodies of the four others killed in the strike were yet to be identified.
Earlier on Saturday morning, Abd al-Rahman Hadayid from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip succumbed to wounds he sustained a few days ago.
Israeli gunboats, meanwhile, launched dozens of strikes on the Gaza shore as well as agricultural areas across the coastal enclave.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed its assault on the 139 square mile (360 sq km) enclave four days ago, after a series of temporary ceasefires had led to a fragile calm while indirect negotiations for a long-term truce took place in Cairo.
Palestinian negotiators, however, accused Israel of stalling the talks and refusing to respond to numerous proposals they have put forth which call for peace in exchange for the end of an eight-year blockade that has crippled Gaza's economy by restricting the movement of all imports, exports, and people in and out of the territory.
The Zionist regime has refused these demands, instead insisting on the demilitarization of Gaza. Palestinian resistance fighters, however, have scoffed at this demand in the wake of the massive Israeli assault, arguing that Palestinian fighters managed to repel the Israeli ground invasion.
NTJ/MB
