Death and grief swept through Gaza City overnight after an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment block, killing five Palestinians — four of them women — according to Gaza’s civil defence agency and a local hospital.
Israeli media reported that the intended target was Ali al-Amoudi, described as a senior Hamas official. The Israeli army has not yet commented on the strike.
Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said the victims included two women and their daughters, along with a young man. The strike hit an apartment in the Rimal neighbourhood, the hospital said.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for the civil defence — a rescue service operating under Hamas authority — said crews transported “five bodies and several wounded” to Al-Shifa following the attack.
He said two missiles struck the apartment directly, igniting a fire and damaging the building.
Children walk past the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment building in Gaza City
As news of the deaths spread, mourners gathered at Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City for the funeral of Maisa Abu Dawoud and her daughter Mary, who were among those killed.
“Today is essentially the worst day of my life. I lost my mother and my grandmother today,” said Fouad Al-Najjar.
Christians make up just 1% of Gaza’s more than 2 million population.
In a statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem extended their condolences.
“We pray for an end to the war and bombardment, for the protection of civilian lives, and for a just peace in which the people of Gaza can feel secure for their children and loved ones. May their memory be eternal,” the Patriarchate said.
The parish priest leads the funeral of Maysaa Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented 2023 attack against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The massive Israeli offensive in response has left most of Gaza in ruins and killed more than 74,200 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israeli forces have killed more than 1,440 people since a ceasefire was announced last October, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The Israeli military has identified five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor.
‘Financing a terrorist organisation’
In a separate case in France, five people have been charged on suspicion of channelling funds through humanitarian groups to a third party accused of trying to collect money for Hamas, the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said.
According to the PNAT, investigators from the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), which is heading the probe, took the five into custody on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, authorities opened a judicial inquiry into “financing a terrorist organisation, in this case Hamas”. On the PNAT’s recommendation, three of the five suspects were placed under judicial supervision.
The prosecutor’s office said it “requested the pretrial detention of the two association presidents”, but added that the first “was placed in pretrial detention pending a postponed adversarial hearing he had requested”.
“My client participated in fundraising efforts for exclusively humanitarian purposes; his detention would be scandalous,” said his lawyer, Lucie Simon.
The second association president was placed “under judicial supervision”, the PNAT said.
Authorities did not disclose where the two organisations are based or the sums of money involved.
