Israeli air attack on Gaza apartment kills family of three

One child survives hit on Deir el-Balah home as Israel escalates attacks across territory despite October ‘ceasefire’.

Three members of a family – a father, a mother and their six-year-old daughter – have been killed in an Israeli air attack on an apartment in central Gaza as Israel continues to violate a “ceasefire” with near-daily attacks.

Palestinian health officials said another child was the only survivor of the attack on Wednesday in Deir el-Balah and was recovered after Palestinian Civil Defence teams rushed to the site to extinguish a fire caused by the attack.

“Children are being killed on a daily basis in Gaza, and if they survive air strikes, many die of their wounds because of the lack of medical supplies and hospitals operating with severely reduced capacity,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said, reporting from Gaza City.

The Israeli army later confirmed it had carried out an attack on Deir el-Balah, claiming it had targeted a Hamas fighter.

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

In its daily casualty update, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Wednesday that at least ۱۲ bodies were brought to hospitals, one person died of wounds and ۱۸ were wounded in Israeli attacks over the latest ۲۴-hour reporting period.

The latest killings occurred despite the United States-brokered “ceasefire” agreed between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas in October. While most ground fighting has since subsided, Israeli air attacks have killed more than ۱,۱۰۰ people, including at least ۲۷۵ children. According to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, ۹۶ percent of children in Gaza feel that death is imminent.

Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during that period.

The conflict started in October ۲۰۲۳ after a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel in which an estimated ۱,۲۰۰ people were killed and about ۲۴۰ were taken captive. Israel responded by waging a genocidal war against Palestinians in the territory, killing more than ۷۳,۲۰۰ people, including at least ۲۱,۰۰۰ children.

Israel has dropped about ۲۲۳,۰۰۰ tonnes of explosives on Gaza during the war – ۱۶ times more than what the US dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in ۱۹۴۵ with the atomic bomb – leaving most of the territory in ruins and its residents displaced.

Prospects for a permanent end to hostilities seem elusive as talks towards a second – and more sensitive phase – of the “ceasefire”, which would see Hamas give up its weapons and Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza, have largely stalled.