Israeli strikes on Gaza kill six, including two children, say officials

Deir Al-Balah: Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least six people overnight, including two young children who died in the tent where their family was sheltering, medical officials said Sunday.

The strike in the Muwasi area, a sprawling tent camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people, also wounded the children’s mother and their sibling, according to the nearby Nasser Hospital. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital saw the bodies.

A separate strike in the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, killed four men, according to hospital records.

The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in either location.

Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its daily strikes across Gaza often kill women and children.

In a separate development, a projectile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen set off air raid sirens in central Israel. The Israeli military said it intercepted the projectile before it entered Israeli territory.

Former defense minister accuses Israel of war crimes

A former top Israeli general and defense minister has accused the government of ethnic cleansing

in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have been waging the latest in a series of offensives against Hamas since early October.

The army has sealed off the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, and the Jabaliya refugee camp, and allowed almost no humanitarian aid to enter.