Seven members of the same family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza on Sunday, medical officials said, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to Israel to push for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
At least seven people were killed, including six children and their mother, in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Deir al-Balah on Sunday, according to the Al-Aqsa hospital. The children’s father was injured, a hospital spokesperson said.
Muhammad Awad Khattab, the children’s grandfather, told CNN: “They were taken by surprise when a missile hit them and completely destroyed their apartment.”
“What did they do to deserve this?” he added. “What resistance did they have?”
As the war rages in Gaza, Blinken is traveling to Israel to, in the words of a senior administration official, “continue to stress the importance of getting this [deal] done.”
The fresh strike in Gaza comes just a day after an Israeli strike killed at least 15 people, all from the same famly, in the al-Zawayda area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Nine children were among those killed, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
In a statement Sunday, the Israeli military said forces continue to operate in Khan Yunis and Dir al-Balah. It said the military struck “targets in the area from which the launches were fired toward Nirim (Friday) and destroyed loaded launchers in the area of Khan Yunis.”
The Israeli military had ordered new evacuation orders in north Khan Younis and east Deir al-Balah on Friday, further reducing the boundaries of the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone.
Credit: cnn.com
