Overnight Israeli airstrikes across Gaza have killed 19 people, including a woman and her six children, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates. This comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit the region on Sunday to broker a cease-fire after months of intense negotiations. The strikes occurred as mediators, including the US, Egypt and Qatar, appeared to be nearing a deal after two days of talks in Doha. While American and Israeli officials expressed cautious optimism, Hamas has resisted what it calls new demands by Israel, causing repeated delays in reaching an agreement.
What is the cease-fire deal?
The proposed cease-fire deal outlines a three-phase process: Hamas would release all hostages taken during its October 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest conflict between Israelis and Palestinians to date. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners. The mediators hope this agreement could end a war that has claimed over 40,000 Palestinian lives, according to local health authorities, and displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, leading to a humanitarian crisis with warnings of famine and potential disease outbreaks.
Hamas-led militants initiated the conflict on October 7, killing approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 individuals. Israeli authorities believe that around 110 hostages remain in Gaza, with about a third presumed dead. More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. However, the conflict continues to rage, with the latest Israeli bombardment targeting multiple locations in Gaza.
One of the deadliest strikes occurred in the central town of Deir al-Balah, where a woman and her six children were killed in their home. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital confirmed the deaths, and an Associated Press reporter on-site counted the bodies. In the northern town of Jabaliya, two apartments in a residential building were hit, killing two men, a woman, and her daughter, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Other strikes in central Gaza and near the southern city of Khan Younis resulted in the deaths of several more individuals from the same family, including two women.
Israel maintains that its airstrikes target militants and that civilian casualties are the result of Hamas using residential areas to hide fighters, weapons, tunnels, and rockets. However, the ongoing bombardment has devastated entire families and left thousands of children orphaned.
Efforts to halt the fighting have intensified since the targeted killing of two top militants last month, both attributed to Israel, which prompted threats of retaliation from Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. This escalation has raised concerns about a broader conflict across the Middle East.