An Israeli airstrike killed a father, his wife and their four children in Gaza City on Tuesday, setting their home on fire, according to health officials, in the latest deadly incident since a US backed ceasefire took hold more than nine months ago. Medics said the strike hit the family’s house in the Sabra neighborhood, killing Firas Al Masri, his wife Salsabeel, their three daughters and their son. The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the strike, saying it had targeted a Hamas militant and that it was still assessing the outcome of the attack. A video obtained by a news agency showed rescue workers battling fires inside the house and carrying out bodies wrapped in white shrouds. Masri’s father, Abu Yusuf Al Masri, said the explosion occurred while the family slept, describing his grief over the loss of his son, daughter in law and grandchildren. He said rescuers could not save the children and grandchildren from the flames and destruction, and that around five or six people died, most of them women and children, without warning and without mercy. Standing outside the family home, he said no place in Gaza offers relative calm or safety anymore. Heavy toll since October The Israeli military said it carried out four separate strikes since Friday that killed four militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, three of whom it said had taken part in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war and involved the seizure of Israeli hostages. Later Tuesday, two additional Israeli airstrikes hit a vehicle in central Gaza and an association building in Gaza City, killing at least six more people and wounding others, according to Palestinian medics, bringing Tuesday’s overall death toll to 12. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on either of these later strikes. These latest deaths add to a toll exceeding 1,160 Palestinians, most of them civilians, killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in October, according to health officials in Gaza. Hamas typically does not disclose its own casualty figures. The truce halted large scale fighting but has not stopped near daily Israeli strikes across the territory. Israel says these operations target militants. Four Israeli soldiers have died at the hands of militants in Gaza during the same period. Mediators including Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States have continued working to advance a plan put forward by President Donald Trump aimed at ending the conflict in Gaza, which calls for Hamas to disarm and for Israeli forces to withdraw, though little progress has emerged so far. The war began when Hamas led fighters attacked communities in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel’s subsequent military campaign has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Nearly all of Gaza’s population of about two million people now lives crowded along a narrow strip of coastal land, largely in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, enduring severe conditions under continued Hamas control. The continued strikes highlight how the ceasefire, despite formally ending large scale combat, has failed to bring lasting safety to civilians in Gaza, with families like the Al Masris bearing the human cost of attacks that Israel says are aimed at militants but that have repeatedly killed women and children in residential areas. International mediators continue pressing for progress on disarmament and withdrawal terms, though the persistent violence has raised doubts about how quickly, if at all, conditions on the ground might meaningfully improve for Gaza’s remaining population.
