Israeli strike kills at least 17 Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials say

CAIRO/GAZA — At least 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza town of Zawayda on Saturday, health officials said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders, citing Hamas rocket fire nearby.

Israel also announced the names of two soldiers Israeli media reported were killed on Saturday afternoon when a roadside bomb exploded in the central Gaza Strip, and an air strike in the occupied West Bank that it said killed two senior Hamas militants involved in the killing of an Israeli.

The violence occurred before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to land in Israel on Sunday and meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, amid stepped-up diplomatic efforts to conclude a deal to end the fighting between Israel and the militant Islamist group and free Israeli hostages.

Most of the people killed in Zawayda were from the same family and they included eight children and four women, according to health officials in the Hamas-administered enclave.

“They were asleep in their beds, kids and babies, then three missiles targeted their place,” said Abu Ahmed Hassan, a neighbour. The owner of the house was a known merchant, he said. “There are no military activities here at all,” he added.

The Israeli military said in response it had struck militant targets in an area from which rockets were fired at its troops. It said the incident was under review.

Israel’s military spokesperson posted instructions in Arabic on X on Saturday for people in parts of central Gaza, including in the Maghazi district near Zawayda, to evacuate to a designated humanitarian zone.

Reuters could not immediately verify whether Zawayda was among the places ordered to evacuate and whether people there had received the military’s instructions.