Israeli air attack on Gaza City apartment kills at least five

An Israeli air attack on a residential apartment in western Gaza City has killed at least five people and severely wounded several others, according to medical staff at al-Shifa Hospital.

The strike hit the al-Asala building in the Remal neighbourhood early on Saturday without prior warning, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani al-Shaer, reporting from Khan Younis.

Remal is one of Gaza City’s most crowded residential areas, home to thousands of displaced people sheltering in makeshift camps across the neighbourhood.

Al-Shaer said the attack came in the middle of the night, when residents were asleep.

“We heard fighter jets getting louder, then three strikes followed, hitting the apartment and killing those inside,” he said.

The strike penetrated the targeted apartment and tore through the floors below, causing further destruction throughout the multi-storey building.

‘Terrifying night’

Reporting from Gaza City later on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary described yet “another terrifying night”.

“Around 2am [on Saturday, 11:00 GMT on Friday], two huge explosions shook the Al Haid roundabout. We later learned that the Israeli army targeted a building with two explosive drones, killing at least three women, a child and a young man.”

Fires burned for at least an hour before Palestinian Civil Defence crews managed to put them out. Al-Shaer described the scene as “horrific”, while Khoudary said “the whole neighbourhood was shaken”, as people were buried under the rubble as they slept.

Civil defence crews were still searching the site for missing people and bodies, al-Shaer said, as Israeli drones continued flying over the area and fighter jets were heard flying low across the Strip.

“This is not the first ceasefire violation, or the first attack, in the past 24 hours,” Khoudary noted, as an Israeli drone strike killed a Palestinian man and wounded several others in southern Gaza on Thursday.

“According to doctors, it is very, very hard to save the lives of those who are injured, because Israel continues to restrict medical supplies and instruments,” Khoudary said. “A lot of people are queuing to leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.”

Bordering Egypt in the south of Gaza, the Rafah crossing is only opened by Israeli forces for limited movements of people, especially patients needing medical treatment abroad, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Repeated delays in bringing life-saving medicines, prosthetics and other supplies from Israel into Gaza are having “devastating consequences” for Palestinians who urgently need them, the WHO said on Saturday.

Since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 175,000 have been injured, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. The true toll is likely much higher, as many people are still missing beneath the rubble.

Since last year’s “ceasefire”, more than 1,400 people have been killed and nearly 5,000 injured.