Mother and baby killed as Israel responds with airstrikes after rockets fired from Gaza Strip

Seba Abu Arar was killed by shrapnel, aunt says

An explosion is pictured during Israeli airstrikes on Gaza city (AFP/Getty Images)

A pregnant mother and her 14-month-old baby girl have been killed by an Israeli airstrike, as cross-border violence continues near Gaza, Palestinian officials have claimed. Israel disputed the claim.

Seba Abu Arar, was killed when an Israeli airstrike hit her home in east Gaza City, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Her pregnant mother, aged 37, was severely wounded and died later at hospital. Another child was slightly injured.

Israel disputed the claim that she had been hit by an airstrike.

Officials said they had been hit by one of hundreds of rockets fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip. They said one of the projectiles had fallen short of its target and landed in the Gaza strip.

Israel responded with dozens of retaliatory airstrikes and tank shelling on at least 30 different militant targets.

Blaming a missile from an Israeli plane, Seba’s aunt said shrapnel had hit the child and killed her.

“They were sitting at the yard in their house with their mother.” added Abu Nidal Abu Arar, a relative living next door. “They were shocked by a missile landing on them. This occupation is criminal.”

Hostilities had earlier broken out in the region on Friday, when a Palestinian militant sniper fired at Israeli troops and wounded two soldiers, Israel’s military said.

The country retaliated with an airstrike that killed two militants from the armed Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Two other Palestinians protesting near the border were killed by Israeli forces on Friday, Palestinian officials said.

Hamas, which controls Gaza and Islamic Jihad, a separate militant group, fired waves of rockets into Israel early on Saturday.

At least 13 other Palestinians were wounded on Saturday and two men, aged 22 and 25, were also killed, health officials in Gaza said.

In Israel, medical officials said an 80-year-old woman was severely wounded by rocket fire, a 50-year-old man was wounded by shrapnel and a teenage boy was mildly hurt as he ran for cover.

The Israeli military accused the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad of instigating the latest round of violence by shooting and wounding the soldiers.

Although the initial round of shooting was not coordinated with Hamas, Israel said it holds the group responsible for all fire coming from Gaza.

The United Nations mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, said the organisation was working with Egypt to restore calm and called on all sides to “de-escalate” and to restore a recent ceasefire.

“Those who seek to destroy them will bear responsibility for a conflict that will have grave consequences for all,” he said in a statement.

Additional reporting by agencies