Health authorities in Gaza reported that at least nine Palestinians were killed and 15 were wounded when Israeli aircraft struck several residential apartments in the Gaza Strip before dawn on Thursday. Medical sources said one of the strikes killed five members of the same family, including both parents.
Medics described multiple aerial strikes that hit four separate apartments around the same time in the early hours. They reported the casualty figures and said that one attack struck a single family home, resulting in the deaths of five relatives.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about the incidents.
Visual material circulating online showed a building that had been blasted out, with furniture inside damaged and scorched. Debris was visible scattered yards out onto a nearby road. A video shared on Palestinian social media, which could not immediately be independently verified, showed people entering one apartment that had been set ablaze by a strike and attempting to recover bodies while carrying blankets.
Background to the current situation remains tied to a truce arrangement brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. That ceasefire has not prevented ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza and has left Israel in control of more than half the enclave following the conflict that began after Hamas attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
Indirect negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire - which the agreement frames as including the disarmament of the group and withdrawals by Israeli forces - are stalled and have not produced progress, according to statements about the talks.
Israeli authorities state that the strikes are intended to prevent imminent attacks. They also say they permit the flow of aid and goods into Gaza.
Gaza health officials report that since the truce began some 930 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes; that figure does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. During the same period, Israel’s military has said four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants.
This report is based on statements from health officials and accounts from medics and social media material; some of the visual posts could not be immediately authenticated.