GAZA CITY: March 22: Five Palestinians, at least two of them minors, were killed on Tuesday when an Israeli shell slammed into a house in Gaza City, an emergency services spokesman said.“At least five people died when Israel opened fire on young people who were playing football in Shejaiya” near the Israeli border, Adham Abu Selmiya said, referring to the eastern Gaza neighbourhood. Initial reports said the victims were aged 11, 16, 20 and 50, with the age of the fifth unclear.

Another 10 people were wounded in the attack, with pictures from Gaza City’s Shifa hospital showing at three small children and a teenager covered in blood.

The army confirmed it had fired mortar rounds towards the eastern outskirts of Gaza City shortly after four Qassam rockets hit Israel, and expressed “regret” over reports that civilians had been hurt.

“In response to rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip... the IDF fired mortars at the launch site. Apparently, as a result of this fire, innocent civilians were hit,” a spokeswoman said.

“The IDF regrets the harm to innocent civilians, but emphasises that Hamas is one who chooses to operate from the heart of a civilian area and uses civilians as human shields,” she said, noting that the military had opened an investigation into the incident.

It was the third military strike on Shejaiya on Tuesday, following an earlier air strike which seriously wounded one militant and a burst of tank fire, which left two civilians moderately wounded shortly after dawn.—AFP