A family, including six children, has been killed in the central Gaza Strip in the latest wave of deadly Israeli attacks across the besieged Palestinian territory.
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday.
The parents and their six children were killed in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital said. The children’s grandfather said their mother worked for the United Nations.
“My daughter, her husband and their six children were sleeping peacefully at home in Deir al-Balah. They were taken by surprise, an Israeli missile fell over their heads. The whole house was flattened. They were all killed,” Mohammed Awad Khattab told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“My daughter has been struggling to have children for years. She had these children through in vitro fertilization (IVF)… What harm did these innocent children do? Were they a danger to Israel? Were they carrying weapons?” he asked.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said: “Four of his children were twins and they were lined up together to be buried in cemeteries here in this city.
“We saw truly heartbreaking scenes this morning, with dozens of bodies lined up at the morgue outside Al-Aqsa Hospital. There has been a remarkable increase in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah, where Palestinians have been urged to seek refuge,” Abu Azzoum added.
The 10-month Israeli offensive has so far killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli plane bombed two residential buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp on Sunday, killing at least four Palestinians, the Wafa news agency reported.
On Saturday night, an attack near the southern town of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital.
And in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, seven people were killed, including three children, according to Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic.
“Chaos and Fear”
According to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, areas designated as “humanitarian zones” in Gaza by the Israeli military have shrunk to just 11 percent of the Gaza Strip, “causing chaos and fear among the displaced.”
Thousands of families continue to be displaced #Gaza Israeli authorities issue new evacuation orders. The so-called “humanitarian zone” has shrunk to just 11% of the #Gaza Stripcausing chaos and fear among the displaced people.
They have no safe place to go. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/0VC7QhOuqe
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 17, 2024
Mohammed Moghayyar, director of operations for Gaza Civil Defense, told Tel Aviv Tribune that Israel’s reduction in the size of the humanitarian zone had isolated crucial facilities such as hospitals and increased the risk of spreading disease.
“The more the Israeli occupation forces reduce the safe humanitarian areas, the more they continue to violate international law and the Geneva Convention, the more they cause death and murder among our people,” he said from Deir el-Balah.
Meanwhile, Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, told Tel Aviv Tribune that the medical facility will have to stop operating in the next 24 hours due to a shortage of fuel and medical supplies.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said it was stepping up its operations in Khan Younis and the surrounding Deir el-Balah.
Fighter jets attacked targets in Khan Younis yesterday from which rockets were launched towards the community of Nirim in southern Israel, the army said.
The airstrikes destroyed loaded launchers ready to launch attacks in the area, he added, adding that the soldiers killed fighters and located weapons, including grenades, assault rifles and explosives.
Troops also continued to operate in the Rafah area, both above ground and underground, the army said in a statement.
As the war rages, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region on Sunday to try once again to reach a ceasefire agreement. In the Qatari capital, Doha, where Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators have been trying to reach an agreement on Gaza, ceasefire talks were suspended on Friday but are expected to resume next week in hopes of reaching a deal in Cairo.