CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Sunday resulted in the deaths of at least 25 people, including six children, according to Palestinian health authorities. The fatalities occurred when an Israeli strike hit a house in Deir Al-Balah, killing a mother and her six children. The Israeli military, however, claimed to have targeted rocket launchers in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, resulting in 20 Palestinian deaths.
These latest strikes have increased the Palestinian death toll to 40,099 since October of last year, mostly civilians. Diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire are intensifying, with negotiations mediated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar scheduled to continue this week in Cairo. These talks follow a Doha meeting that was boycotted by Hamas after the killing of its leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday, is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and President Isaac Herzog on Monday before traveling to Egypt on Tuesday.
At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, relatives mourned the mother and her children, who were wrapped in white shrouds. The children’s grandfather, Mohammed Khattab, questioned the justice of their deaths: “What was their crime? Did they kill a Jew? Did they shoot at the Jews? Did they launch rockets at the Jews? Did they destroy the state of Israel? What did they do to deserve this?”
After ten months of conflict, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to face extreme hardship, with many struggling to find safe shelter. “We are tired of displacement. People are being pushed into narrow areas in Deir Al-Balah and Al-Mawasi, which have become pressure cookers,” said Tamer Al-Burai from Deir Al-Balah. Tanks were reportedly just 1.5 km away, he added.
The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of areas north of Khan Yunis and east of Deir Al-Balah, where thousands of displaced families had been taking refuge under dire conditions. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the area designated as safe by Israeli forces has been reduced to about 11% of its original size.
In related news, three UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon were injured after a blast near their vehicle close to Lebanon’s southern border, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
