An Israeli air strike yesterday killed a father, his wife and their four children in Gaza City, while setting their home ablaze, health officials said, in the latest deadly attack since a US-backed ceasefire was agreed more than nine months ago.
Medics said the Israeli strike on the family house in the Sabra neighbourhood killed the man, Firas Al Masri, his wife, Salsabeel, and their three daughters and son.
The Israeli military confirmed the strike, saying its target was a Hamas member and it was still looking into the result of the attack.
A video obtained by Reuters showed rescue workers struggling to put out fires in the house and bring out bodies in white shrouds.
Masri’s father, Abu Yusuf Al Masri, told Reuters the explosion took place as they were asleep, as he lamented the loss of his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
“We were unable to save our grandchildren and children from the flames and the devastation. Around five or six (people) were martyred, most of them children and women, without mercy and without any prior warning,” he said, standing outside the family house.
“There is no relative calm and there is no safe place, at all,” the grey-bearded man added.
In four separate strikes since Friday, the Israeli military said it had killed four people from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, three of whom it said had taken part in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war and had held Israeli hostages seized in the assault.
Later yesterday, two separate Israeli air strikes targeted a vehicle in central Gaza Strip and an association in Gaza City, killing at least six people and wounding others, Palestinian medics said, taking yesterday’s death toll to 12.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on either of the two later incidents. The latest deaths add to a toll of more than 1,160 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to Gaza health officials.
Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by rival groups in Gaza over the same period. Mediators, including Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the US, have been trying to advance US President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the conflict in Gaza, which calls for Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawals, but there has been little sign of progress in the efforts.
A US appeals court yesterday overturned a 2025 ruling that ordered the Trump administration to release pro-Palestinian advocate Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention, finding that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
Mahdawi, 35, was one of several non-citizen students who were placed in deportation proceedings last year after taking part in demonstrations against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
A West Bank-born Columbia University student, Mahdawi was arrested in April 2025 upon arriving for an interview for his US citizenship petition.
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