Rescue teams in Gaza have said that an Israeli air strike in the south of the territory has killed 10 people from the same family, including seven children, as the United Nations condemned ongoing strikes for disproportionately targeting women and children.
The incident in Khan Yunis on Friday came during intensified bombardments following the breach of a two-month ceasefire with Hamas on March 18. Since then, more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while Israel continues to extremely limit humanitarian aid into the region.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that ten people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital as martyrs following an Israeli air strike that targeted the Farra family home in central Khan Yunis.
Footage captured after the strike showed bodies wrapped in shrouds and debris from the family home scattered among the rubble and twisted metal.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the Khan Yunis strike but separately claimed it had targeted around 40 “terror targets” across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.
The UN’s human rights office warned that the expanding scope of Israeli evacuation orders was amounting to the forcible transfer of civilians into increasingly limited spaces, raising serious concerns about the long-term viability of Gaza’s population.
Between March 18 and April 9, the UN verified 224 strikes on residential buildings and displacement tents. In 36 of those incidents, it said the victims were exclusively women and children.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the attack as “barbarism,” while the UN voiced alarm over the continuing strikes and growing number of civilian casualties. Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN rights office, added that Israel’s ongoing blockade and suggestions that Gazans should leave the territory altogether were particularly worrying.
Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, speaking from Turkey, urged the international community to apply maximum pressure to ensure the delivery of vital aid into Gaza.
The conflict was reignited following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, in which 1,218 people—mostly civilians—were reportedly killed and 251 hostages were taken, according to Israeli firgues. Israel has since launched a full-scale bombardment of Gaza, with the local health ministry reporting the overall death toll now exceeds 50,900.
Diplomatic efforts to restart a ceasefire are ongoing. A US-brokered truce, which lasted from January 19 to March 17, had facilitated the release of 33 Israeli hostages—eight of them deceased—in exchange for approximately 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were wrongfully held by Israel.
In a Passover message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his commitment to returning the remaining hostages. “Together we will return our hostages,” he said, maintaining that military pressure was key to achieving that aim.
US President Donald Trump has suggested that progress is being made in negotiations, telling a cabinet meeting that a breakthrough “is close.”
Israeli media reported that Egypt and Israel have exchanged draft proposals. According to The Times of Israel, Egypt has suggested a deal involving the release of eight living hostages and eight bodies in return for a 40–70 day ceasefire and a significant prisoner exchange.
However, a senior Hamas official claimed the group had not received any new proposals but remained open to any that could lead to a ceasefire and an end to the suffering of Palestinians.
