The rescue agency in the Gaza Strip said today that 12 people, including at least three children, were killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave, which has been almost leveled after 15 months of war.

A father and his three daughters were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, civil protection said.

Rescuer Mahmoud Awad said he pulled two of the three sistersTala and Nazua, aged 6 and 7 yearsas well as their father, Mohammed Abu Harouf.

“The bodies were in pieces, it was a disaster”he emphasized. “The area was completely destroyed and the drones were shooting intermittently,” he added.

According to Palestinian rescuers, another Israeli airstrike on a house in Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, caused the death of eight people and him injury to many others.

The Israeli military has stepped up ground and air operations in the northern Gaza Strip since October 6, saying it wants to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.

Violence continues in the Gaza Strip as indirect talks between Hamas and Israel resumed over the weekend in Qatar, with the aim of reaching a truce deal that US diplomacy says is “very close”.