The room where Inas al-Khamash was killed with her toddler daughter and unborn child the previous night, Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 9 August 2018. Ashraf Amra APA images

Israel bombed and destroyed a building housing a cultural center in Gaza City before reportedly agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas late Thursday.

The obliteration of the building in the heart of the densely populated Gaza Strip followed a night of terror for Palestinians in the territory.

Over hearing that I crawled in the darkness amid the intinsive air strikes and lied beside my 2 years sleeping daughter. Toghether we live or we die. #GazaunderAttack https://t.co/E5nmFmCrBN — Maram Humaid (@MaramGaza) August 9, 2018

“Bombs are pouring everywhere shaking our house worse than an earthquake. I’m panicking paralysed unable to provide safety for my 2 yrs son whose night is torn by excessive sounds renewed rocket fire in #Gaza” A fraction from what my sister reported in Gaza. #StopFire #Enough — Ayman Qwaider (@aymanqwaider) August 8, 2018

Israeli bombing killed a 9-months-pregnant woman and her toddler, as well as a Palestinian man Wednesday night.

Gaza’s health ministry stated that Hayat, the unborn child being carried by Inas Khamash, 23, was “born a martyr.”

The woman was laid to rest in the same coffin together with her toddler daughter, Bayan, and Hayat on Thursday.

Her husband Muhammad was hospitalized after being injured in the bombing that killed his family.

The Israeli military said that it had hit 150 targets in Gaza since Wednesday evening.

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on 9 August. Mahmoud Khattab APA images

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported the military’s claims that 200 rockets were fired from Gaza, more than 30 of them intercepted and most of the remainder landing in open areas.

A foreign laborer working at an Israeli greenhouse was reported to have been “moderately to seriously injured” by a rocket fired from Gaza. Twenty-three Israelis have been hospitalized for injuries as a result of rocket fire since Wednesday, according to Haaretz.

A rocket fired from Gaza hit the city of Beersheba, in southern Israel, on Thursday, causing no injuries or damage.

An Israeli police spokesperson posted photos of a small crater and shrapnel said to be from the rocket:

Police bomb disposal experts find rocket that landed outside the city of ber Sheba fired from the Gaza Strip. Police units patrolling areas pic.twitter.com/x6Pi2nauMm — Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) August 9, 2018

The Israeli military said that the targeting of the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center in Gaza City’s Beach refugee camp was in response to the rocket fired at Beersheba. It published a video apparently showing the bombing of the building.

Israel claimed that the building housed Hamas’ internal security services, describing it as “the operational arm of the political leadership of the Hamas terror group.”

Yet the army also openly admitted to intentionally targeting civilian areas so that civilians would “demand explanations from Hamas”:

The IDF openly admits it is now targeting populated civilian areas in Gaza "so residents feel the price of the escalation and demand explanations from Hamas." You cannot make this stuff up

(Hebrew link) https://t.co/RAYKkCv4Ps — Mairav Zonszein (@MairavZ) August 9, 2018

Video shows the destruction of the five-story building housing the cultural center, amid shouting of many people in the well-populated area:

#شاهد| فيديو جديد يوثق لحظة قصف الاحتلال مبنى مؤسسة ثقافية غرب مدينة #غزة pic.twitter.com/vdAEC6JAzx — وكالة صفا (@SafaPs) August 9, 2018

لحظة إطلاق طيران الاحتلال صواريخه تجاه مبنى سعيد المسحال غرب #غزة قبل قليل. pic.twitter.com/zh7ysJwnSN — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 9, 2018

This video shows people running in the streets after the massive explosion:

الاحتلال يدمر مبنى ثقافياً غرب غزة مساء اليوم، مخلفاً إصابات ورعباً بين الأطفال والنساء. pic.twitter.com/9RFMkqyTmk — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 9, 2018

A photo shows Palestinians holding the cultural center’s sign that once hung on the now destroyed building:

ما تبقى من مؤسسة سعيد المسحال الثقافية بغزة عقب تدميرها من قبل طائرات الاحتلال. pic.twitter.com/BTslwH7oVD — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 9, 2018

Israeli airstrikes wounded 18 Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday, according to the health ministry.

A Hamas spokesperson stated that the bombing of the cultural center, which also housed an organization providing services to Egyptian women married to Palestinian men in Gaza, was “barbaric” and “an attempt to sabotage Egyptian efforts in the Gaza Strip.”

That was in reference to indirect talks between Hamas and Israel, facilitated by Egypt and the United Nations, that were said to be at an advanced stage earlier this month.

Palestinian women inspect the damage to a building following Israeli an air strike on Gaza City on 9 August. Mahmoud Khattab APA images

Adel Abd al-Rahman, president of the Egyptian community in Gaza, stated that services were provided to thousands of Egyptian mothers in the building before it was “destroyed in an ugly and arrogant way.”

The Islamic Jihad faction stated that the attack “reveals attempts to destroy the cultural and national identity of our people.”

Palestinians took to social media to mourn the destruction of one of the few large venues for theater and music performances in besieged and isolated Gaza:

Thousands of kids in #Gaza will miss #almishalCultureAndArtsCentre

A place where they had watched Plays and celebrated graduations...#israel is the meaning terrorism..

What would th @UNESCO do for such a crime? pic.twitter.com/rNSlNQgkEN — Bahaauddin Alghoul (@bahaa_alghoul) August 9, 2018

I took this video of ‘O, Palestine’s Children’ song sang at Said Almishal Cultural Center back in 2016 by Dawaween band. Israel wants to erase our culture too. Share #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/RLqzPm1Bpl — Yousef M. Aljamal (@YousefAljamal) August 9, 2018

My timeline is full of people from Gaza mourning the destruction of the Said Al-Mishal Cultural Center in an Israeli air strike. In a place desperately lacking space for entertainment and support, the center provided both. https://t.co/rGuZmBGKgW — Mohammad Alsaafin (@malsaafin) August 9, 2018

I'm writing this tweet with tears and powerlessness. Today, Israeli warplanes bombed Said Al-Mishal Cultural Centre: a home to the second largest theatre in Gaza. The centre is one of places where @GazaCinema Cinema was hosting the movies. I have many happy memories in this place pic.twitter.com/bfnrx3Vwkn — Ayman Qwaider (@aymanqwaider) August 9, 2018

Earlier this year The Electronic Intifada profiled Palestine’s Theater, a troupe in Gaza that rehearsed and performed at the center:

Since Wednesday, Israeli forces have also bombed a mosque and water infrastructure.

This was the Water and Sanitation Department of al-Mughraqa city, central Gaza Strip. It was hit and completely destroyed by several Israeli air strikes last night.



The Israeli destructive regime targets Gaza infrastructure so that it would cause the hugest damage possible! pic.twitter.com/q89KgvVf2V — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 9, 2018

The Gaza-based human rights group Al Mezan condemned “the military’s targeting of civilians and civilian property, and the unnecessary harm and trauma caused to the population in Gaza.”