Israeli air attack on Gaza apartment kills family of three

An Israeli air strike on a residential apartment in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, killed three family members on Wednesday: a father, mother, and their six-year-old daughter. One child was the sole survivor of the attack and was rescued by Palestinian Civil Defence teams who extinguished a fire caused by the strike. The Israeli military confirmed conducting the operation, claiming it targeted a Hamas fighter.

Additional Israeli air attacks struck a rehabilitation centre in Gaza City and a park in Khan Younis in southern Gaza where hundreds of displaced families had sought shelter. The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that at least 12 bodies were brought to hospitals, one person died from wounds, and 18 were wounded during the latest 24-hour reporting period from Israeli attacks.

These killings occurred despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas reached in October. While most ground combat has subsided, Israeli air operations have killed more than 1,100 people, including at least 275 children, since the ceasefire began. According to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, 96 percent of Gaza's children report feeling that death is imminent. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period.

The broader conflict began in October 2023 following a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in about 240 captives. Israel's subsequent military response has killed more than 73,200 Palestinians, including at least 21,000 children. The Israeli military has dropped approximately 223,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza—16 times the tonnage of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945—leaving most of the territory in ruins with widespread displacement.

Prospects for a permanent resolution remain uncertain as negotiations toward a second phase of the ceasefire, which would require Hamas to surrender weapons and Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza, have largely stalled.