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Ninth member of Palestinian family dies after Israeli air strike in Gaza

Mohammed Salem al-Sawarka succumbed to his injuries on Friday following the attack last week on his family's home
A relative of the Sawarka family holds up a T-shirt at the site bombarded by an Israeli air strike (MEE/Fatima Shbair)

A Palestinian man has become the ninth member of his family to die as a result of an Israeli air strike last week in the Gaza Strip, according to the besieged enclave's health ministry.

Mohammed Salem al-Sawarka, 40, succumbed to his injuries on Friday following the attack on 14 November, the ministry said.

Eight other members of the Sawarka family, including five children and two women, died when their two wood and tin houses in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip were bombed.

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The Sawarka family members were in bed when the attack took place in the early hours of Thursday, turning their homes into rubble.

Twelve other people, including Mohammed Sawarka, were injured at the time.

The Gaza Strip witnessed an onslaught for two consecutive days, following Israel’s assassination of senior Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu al-Atta and his wife on 12 November. 

The Palestinian armed group retaliated by launching a barrage of rockets into Israel, before the two parties agreed on a ceasefire following joint Egyptian and UN mediation.

Friday's death takes the number of Palestinians killed during the Israeli offensive to 35.

No Israelis died during the fighting.

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