An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed at least 18 people, all from the same family, on Saturday, hours after mediators expressed optimism about a solution. Ceasefire agreement possible between Israel and Hamas after 10 months of war.
Saturday’s airstrike hit a home and an adjacent warehouse housing displaced people at the entrance to the town of Zawaida, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where victims were being treated. An Associated Press reporter tallied the deaths.
The dead included Sami Jawad al-Ejlah, a wholesaler who coordinated with the Israeli army the shipment of meat and fish to Gaza. Also among the dead were his two wives, 11 of their children aged 2 to 22, the children’s grandmother and three other relatives, according to a list provided by the hospital.
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“He was a peaceful man,” said Abu Ahmed, a neighbor. More than 40 civilians were sheltering in the house and warehouse at the time, he added.
The Israeli military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, said it had struck “terrorist infrastructure” in central Gaza, where rockets have been fired toward Israel in recent weeks. It added that it was continuing its attacks on militants in central Gaza.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon At least 10 Syrians have been killedincluding a woman and her two children, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.
New evacuation ordered in Gaza
A new mass evacuation has been ordered in parts of central Gaza. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee cited Palestinian rocket fire in a message on X and said Palestinians in areas in and around the Maghazi urban refugee camp should leave.
“The suffering began the day we left our homes,” said Ahmad Omrani, one of those affected by the order, as heavily laden vehicles, bicycles and donkey carts trudged through the rubble. “We are suffering from fear and anxiety, and we fear for the children playing in the street. We cannot sleep, sit or eat properly.”
The vast majority of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times, and about 84 percent of the territory has been subject to evacuation orders by the Israeli military, according to the United Nations.
The war The conflict began on October 7, when Hamas militants crossed the border, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 250 others in Gaza. More than 100 people were released in the November ceasefire.
Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 Hamas militants, without providing evidence.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 40,074 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Israeli army announced that it had struck a “terrorist cell” in Jenin. The Health Ministry said that two bodies had been taken to a public hospital. Hamas claimed the two men as commanders of its military wing.
