DHAKA: An Israeli air strike killed the wife and child of Gaza military chief.

Hamas made the allegation after a temporary ceasefire went up in smoke and Cairo truce talks froze on the day same, reports the DAWN.

“The wife of the great leader was martyred with his daughter,” in a strike Tuesday night, Hamas's exiled deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzuk wrote on Facebook while saying nothing about the fate of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Deif himself, the report added.

The Israeli military said it hit “more than 25 targets” in Gaza Tuesday but would not elaborate.

Tuesday's deaths of the woman and a two-year-old girl were the first as a result of Israeli air raids in Gaza since August 10.

However, in a strike Wednesday morning on the southern Gaza town of Deir el-Balah a pregnant woman, three children and two men were killed, all members of the Aloah family, emergency services said.

They said that the woman was nine months pregnant but medics were unable to save the foetus.

More than a month of fighting between Israel and Hamas has killed at least 2,026 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side since July 8.

BDST: 1120 HRS, AUG 20, 2014