GAZA CITY: An Israeli military strike killed 12 people in a house in Gaza City early on Saturday, bringing the death toll from strikes across Gaza to 62 in the past 24 hours, Palestinian medics said, as mediators launched a new ceasefire push in Qatar.
The health ministry in Gaza said that at least 45,717 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardment campaign in the besieged territory since October 7, 2023.
The ministry also said in a statement that at least 108,856 people had been wounded in nearly 15 months of Israeli military campaign after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that its forces had continued their operations this week in Beit Hanoun town in the northern edge of the enclave, where the army has been operating for three months, and had destroyed a military complex that had been used by Hamas.
Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed three people in a car east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, medics said. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in strikes on Friday, bringing the death toll during the past 24 hours to 62, health officials said.
Israeli air strike on the house of the al-Ghoul family in Gaza City killed 14 people, seven of them children.
According to the civil defence agency, an air strike at dawn on the house of the al-Ghoul family in Gaza City killed 14 people, seven of them children.
“The home, which housed several displaced people, was completely destroyed,” said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
“It was a two-storey building and several people are still under the rubble,” he added, saying Israeli drones had “also fired on ambulance staff”.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the strike, AFP reported.
People scoured the rubble for possible survivors trapped under the debris and medics said several children were among those killed. A few flames and trails of smoke continued to rise from burning furniture in the ruins hours after the attack.
AFP images from the neighbourhood of Shujaiya, in the east of Gaza City, showed residents combing through smoking rubble and bodies lined up on the ground, covered in white sheets.
“A huge explosion woke us up. Everything was shaking,” said witness Ahmed Mussa.
“I was surprised to see (the strike) was on the house of our neighbours, the al-Ghoul family. It was home to children and women. There wasn’t anyone wanted or who posed a threat.”
Elsewhere, the civil defence agency said five security officers, tasked with accompanying aid convoys, were killed by an Israeli strike as they were driving in a car in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Bassal accused Israel of having “deliberately targeted” them in order to “affect the humanitarian supply chain and increase the suffering” of the population.
The army has not yet responded to the accusations.
Local rescuers also said three members of the same family, including a child, were killed when their house was bombed in Khan Younis.
A surge in Israeli operations and the number of Palestinians killed in recent days comes amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and return Israeli hostages before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
Israeli mediators were dispatched to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, and US President Joe Biden’s administration, which is helping to broker the talks, urged Hamas on Friday to agree to a deal.
Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement but it was unclear how close the two sides were.
