Four children were killed in Gaza City on Wednesday, medics said, in Israeli shelling witnessed by AFP journalists.

All four were on the beach when the attack took place, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, with several injured children taking refuge at a nearby hotel where journalists were staying.

Qudra confirmed four children were killed and at least five others injured, some of whom sought refuge at a hotel used by journalists, in an Israeli strike on a beach in Gaza.

The first strike hit at around 13.00 GMT, prompting children and adults on the beach to scatter, as others rushed out to see what had happened.

A second and third missile struck as they ran, setting fire to huts on the beach as terrified children shouted that there were dead and injured.

The strikes appeared to be the result of shelling by the Israeli navy against an area with small shacks used by fishermen.

Several children ran inside the hotel where AFP journalists saw at least three with shrapnel injuries.

The Gaza Health Ministry has now named the four kids killed on the Gaza beach by an Israeli naval bombardment as Zakaria Ahed Bakr, 10, Ahed Atef Bakr, 10, Mohammed Ramez Bakr, 11, and Ismail Mohammed Bakr, 9.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the reports of the killed Palestinian children.

(Middle East Eye – www.middleeasteye.net)