Eleven killed after Israel hits bus in Gaza, Hamas-run civil defence says
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# Eleven killed after Israel hits bus in Gaza, Hamas-run civil defence says
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Hugo BachegaMiddle East correspondent , Jerusalem
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Anadolu via Getty Images
Gaza City was heavily bombarded by Israeli troops before the ceasefire came into effect
Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence says 11 people were killed, all from the same family, after the bus they were in was hit by an Israeli tank shell in northern Gaza.
The family, it said, were trying to reach their home to inspect it when the incident happened in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City on Friday night.
This is the deadliest single incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire eight days ago.
The Israeli military said soldiers had fired at a "suspicious vehicle" that had crossed the so-called yellow line demarcating the area still occupied by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Israeli soldiers continue to operate in more than half of the Gaza Strip, under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP news agency the victims were members of the Abu Shaaban family and were killed while "trying to check on their home" in the area.
The dead included women and children, according to the civil defence.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said a "suspicious vehicle was identified crossing the yellow line and approaching IDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip" on Friday, prompting it to fire "warning shots" towards the vehicle.
It said the vehicle "continued to approach the troops in a way that caused an imminent threat to them" and "troops opened fire to remove the threat, in accordance with the agreement."
Hamas said the family had been targeted without justification.
The IDF has warned Palestinians from entering areas in Gaza still under its control.
With limited internet access, many Palestinians do not know the position of Israeli troops as the yellow demarcation line is not physically marked,