An Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip killed four members of a single family on Thursday, including two children, according to Palestinian hospital and security sources. The strike hit a house in the Beit Lahia Project area, a residential zone near the Israeli border, and the bodies were recovered in pieces, an official at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City told reporters.
The victims were identified as members of the Ahmad family. The two children were aged 12 and eight. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a "military structure" from which "terrorists had previously been identified operating," and that it eliminated Muamen Abd al-Rahman Ahmad, a "military operative" who had taken part in combat against Israeli troops in violation of the ceasefire.
Separately, a source within Gaza's Hamas-run security forces said Israeli warplanes struck after midnight in Beit Lahia and in the heart of the Jabalia refugee camp, and that forces also fired on ambulances and tents housing displaced people. "Israel continues its violations in the Gaza Strip," the source said.
The territory's civil defence agency reported that five more people were killed in three separate Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, bringing the day's death toll to nine. Three of those victims died in a drone strike near Khan Yunis.
Ceasefire under strain
The strikes come despite a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States in October last year. Israel has since advanced further into the enclave, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed no let-up in operations against Hamas, which led the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. He insists there will be no withdrawal from Gaza until the group surrenders all of its weapons.
According to the Gaza health ministry, whose figures are generally considered reliable by the United Nations, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,300 people since the ceasefire was declared. Over the same period, the Israeli military has reported five deaths within its ranks and the death of one civilian contractor.
The escalating violence in Gaza echoes patterns seen elsewhere in the region, where fragile ceasefires have repeatedly broken down. In Syria, a weapons depot blast killed 14 people in Idlib province this week, underscoring the volatility of Middle Eastern conflict zones.
European governments have repeatedly called for restraint and for a return to negotiations, but the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. Aid agencies warn that the continued strikes are making it nearly impossible to deliver food, water, and medical supplies to the enclave's two million residents.
The deaths of children in particular have drawn international condemnation. The United Nations has documented a sharp rise in child casualties since the ceasefire began, and human rights groups have accused both sides of violating international law.
For now, the ceasefire appears to be holding only in name. With no political solution in sight, residents of Gaza face an uncertain and dangerous future, while the broader region watches for signs of a wider conflagration.
