A resident of al-Saftawi neighbourhood, also in the north of the city, Matar and his wife were startled awake by what he described as a “frightening sound of movement“.

“We thought it was the sound of asbestos sheets being moved from place to place by a crane or a tuk-tuk. We couldn’t sleep out of fear.”

At around 4:45am, the couple realised the sound had come from a remotely controlled Israeli military robot.

The robots, which carry explosives, have been widely used by Israeli forces during the ongoing invasion of Gaza, often targeting civilian homes.