Gaza – Ma'an – Seven Palestinians were killed, including a mother and her four young children, and at least seven others were injured when Israeli tanks shelled a house in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, witnesses and medics said.
Palestinian
medics
identified
the
mother,
Khadra
Abu
Mu'attaq,
and
herchildren
Ahmad
Abu
Mu'attaq,
three-year-old
Hana Abu
Mu'attaq,
four-year-old
Salih
Abu
Mu'attaq,
and
six-year-old
Rudayna
Abu
Mu'attaq,
medics
reported.
The
family
was
inside
the
house,
eating
breakfast
at the
time of
the
shelling.
A
student,
17-year-old
Ayyub
Atallah,
was
killed
on his
way to
school.
His
friend
Mu'tasim
Sweilim
was
injured.
The
sixth
Palestinian
killed
was a
member
of the
armed
wing of
Islamic
Jihad,
the Al-Quds
Brigades,
named
Ibrahim
Al-Hjuj.
He was
also
identified
by
medical
sources.
Muawiya
Hassanain,
the
Gaza-based
director
of
ambulance
and
emergency
services
in the
Palestinian
Health
Ministry,
confirmed
that the
deaths
took
place
after
Israeli
forces
fired on
the Abu
Ma'tuq
family
home in
Beit
Hanoun.
Witnesses
reported
that
Israeli
tanks
and
bulldozers
invaded
Beit
Hanoun
early on
Monday
morning
and
began
firing
on
residential
houses.
On
Sunday
night
Israeli
forces
raided
the town
of Deir
Al-Balah,
in the
central
Gaza
Strip,
seized
40
Palestinians,
and used
bulldozers
to
destroy
agricultural
lands,
witnesses
said.
The
Israeli
forces
withdrew
at
midnight.