Israeli air strike kills family of three in Gaza apartment

An Israeli air strike on an apartment in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on Wednesday killed three members of a family: a father, a mother, and their six-year-old daughter. One child survived the attack and was rescued after Palestinian Civil Defence teams extinguished a fire caused by the strike.

The Israeli military later confirmed the attack on Deir el-Balah, claiming it targeted a Hamas fighter. However, the strike resulted in civilian casualties.

In other attacks, Israeli air strikes hit a rehabilitation centre in Gaza City and a park in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where hundreds of displaced families had been sheltering.

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 12 bodies were brought to hospitals in the latest 24-hour reporting period, one person died of wounds, and 18 were wounded. Since the US-brokered ceasefire in October, Israeli air attacks have killed more than 1,100 people, including at least 275 children. The UN sexual and reproductive health agency reports that 96 percent of children in Gaza feel death is imminent.

The conflict began in October 2023 after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed an estimated 1,200 people and took about 240 captives. Israel responded with a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, killing more than 73,200 people, including at least 21,000 children. Israel has dropped about 223,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza – 16 times more than the US atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.

Prospects for a permanent end to hostilities remain elusive, as talks for a second phase of the ceasefire – which would require Hamas to give up weapons and Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza – have largely stalled.