Four members of one family, including a young girl, were killed at dawn yesterday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential apartment in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, while another child survived after being pulled from beneath the rubble.
Palestinian medical and local sources said a helicopter carried out the attack on a home belonging to the Abu Qasim family near Al Baraka roundabout, causing extensive damage to the building and sparking a large fire.
The attack comes amid continuing tensions despite the ceasefire agreement that came into effect last October, with official Palestinian sources recording the deaths of more than 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardment across various parts of the Strip since the ceasefire took hold.
The death toll from Israel's ongoing war on Gaza since 7 October 2023 has risen to 73,246 killed.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said via its Telegram channel yesterday that hospitals in the Strip had received 13 dead and 18 injured over the past 24 hours.
The Israeli army had briefed ministers in the inner cabinet on the day before yesterday that its forces currently control between 67% and 70% of the area of the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli channel i24News.