Israel strike before truce kills 16 members of one family

Gaza City: An Israeli air strike in southern Gaza in the early hours of Saturday killed 16 members of a single family, hours ahead of a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire, medics said. The strike slammed into a home in the southern city of Khan Yunis, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, killing 16 members of the Najjar family. There were no immediate details on the victims, though Qudra said there were women and children among them. The first strike of Saturday killed an on-duty paramedic in Khan Yunis, Qudra said. [caption id=“attachment_1635793” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rescue workers carry the body of a member of al-Najar family, after removing it from under the rubble of their home following an Israeli air strike on Khan Yunis. AFP[/caption] Saturday’s death toll reached more than 20 people before a fragile ceasefire took effect in the coastal territory, bringing the total Palestinian dead in the violence there to 891. The conflict that began on July 8 when Israel launched an operation to stamp out rocket fire from Gaza and destroy Hamas tunnels has also killed 37 Israeli soldiers, and three civilians inside Israel. AFP