A Palestinian girl treated for wounds sustained in an Israeli strike on a displacement camp in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
After nearly 21 months of war which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million people, the Israeli military said this week it had expanded its operations.
In southern Gaza on Wednesday, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five members of the same family were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air strike that hit a tent housing displaced people in the coastal Al-Mawasi area.
AFP images from the nearby Nasser Hospital, in Khan Yunis city, showed medics treating young children covered in blood.
Some appeared terrified while others lay still on hospital beds in bloodied bandages and clothes.
Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated Israeli strikes.
Further north, Bassal said that four people from the same family were killed in a pre-dawn Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City, and another five in a drone strike on a house in the central Deir el-Balah area.
'End the war'
On Tuesday the military said that in recent days its forces had expanded operations across Gaza, claiming “eliminating dozens of terrorists and dismantling hundreds of terror infrastructure sites”.
After months of stalled mediation efforts to bring an end to the war, Trump on Tuesday said on social media that a new ceasefire proposal has Israel's support.
“Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War,” Trump said.
He added that Qatari and Egyptian mediators, who have been in direct contact with Hamas throughout the war, would deliver “this final proposal”.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better -- IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”
Trump is due to host Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel's genocidal war in Gaza has killed at least 56,647 people, most of them women and children, with over 132,000 others injured, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The United Nations confirmed that these figures to be reliable.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online
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