By Anees Bargouthi
GAZA CITY, (AA): The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported, Saturday, that a child, six years of age, who was seriously injured after the Israeli Air Force fired a missile into their home in northern Gaza, killing her brother, died of her serious wounds.
The Ministry said the child, Israa’ Suleiman Abu Khousa, only six years of age, died of her serious wounds in the Indonesian Hospital, In Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip.
Her brother, Yassin Suleiman Abu Khousa, only 10 years of age, was killed when Israeli warplanes struck targets in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.
Her other brother, Ayyoub, 13 years of age, suffered moderate wounds.
“I was sleeping in the other room, my kids and their mom were sleeping in this room, then I heard the blast, and rushed to their room,” The father said, “My boy was instantly killed, drowning in his own blood; my daughter was very seriously injured.”
His other son said the family was sleeping when the Israeli missile struck their home, and that when he looked at his brother and sister, he found them heavily bleeding from their heads and various parts of their bodies.
In a statement, the Israeli army said its warplanes had targeted four “training camps” belonging to Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, which since 2007 has governed the blockaded coastal territory.
According to the army, the airstrikes were carried out in response to four rockets fired Friday from Gaza that landed in southern Israel.
Hamas, for its part, warned Israel of the consequences of its recent “escalations” against the people of Gaza.
In a statement, the group said Israel bore responsibility for the death of the child in Beit Lahia and for what it described as the Jewish state’s ongoing “war crimes” against the Palestinians.
In July and August of 2014, Israel waged a weeks-long military offensive against the Gaza Strip with the ostensible aim of staunching rocket fire from the coastal enclave.
Over 2,160 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly civilians, were killed — and some 11,000 injured — during the 51-day onslaught.
Additional reporting from Imemc
[Photo: Palestinians perform Funeral prayer 6 year old kid Esra abu Housa who lost her life after an Israeli war crafts carried out an airstrike to Beit Lahia of Gaza, during a funeral ceremony at Beit Lahia in Gaza on March 12, 2016. Photographer: Ashraf Amra/AA]