Pregnant Palestinian woman, child killed in Israeli airstrike

A pregnant Palestinian woman and her child have been killed as Israeli jets carry out multiple raids on the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to reports, one of the attacks, in which three others were also injured, resulted in the collapse of a home in northern Gaza, early on Sunday.

The child, a three-year-old girl, was also killed along with her mother, 30-year-old Noor Hassan, and to-be-born sibling.

Israel normally claims that such strikes are carried out in retaliations for rockets fired from the besieged territory towards Israel.

This time, an Israeli military spokesperson confirmed the attacks, claiming they targeted an alleged weapons manufacturing site belonging to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in response to rocket fire from Gaza.

Tensions have recently been running high between Israelis and Palestinians.

Last year, Israel launched 50 days of military attacks against the Gaza Strip. The war started in early July last year and ended on August 26, 2014 with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in the 2014 Israeli onslaught. Over 11,100 others – including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people – were also injured.