The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that the IDF was not to blame for Saturday's explosion in a house in Gaza City that killed three members of a family, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Citing an initial investigation into the incident, the IDF confessed on Sunday that it did launch an airstrike in the area, but claimed that the raid was targeting a group of armed gunmen.

Palestinians earlier blamed an IDF artillery shell for the blast in a house of a family, a charge rejected by IDF, which claimed that its artillery did not shell the area.

A huge blast occurred in a house in Gaza City on Saturday evening, killing three members of a family and wounding four.

Medics at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed that a 42-year- old mother, her 20-year-old son and six-year-old daughter were killed by splinters of an Israeli tank shell.

Palestinian security sources said that an Israeli tank stationed in eastern Gaza City fired several shells at the city's neighborhood of Sheja'eya and one of the shells hit a house in the neighborhood.

Source: Xinhua