An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed a baby girl and her parents on Saturday, according to Nasser hospital officials and witnesses, as families of hostages in Israel called for a “nationwide day of stoppage” to protest the handling of the war that has dragged on for 22 months.
The bodies of the baby, wrapped in blue, and her parents, Motasem al-Batta and his wife, were laid together as Palestinians held funeral prayers in the crowded Muwasi area, where the family was killed in their tent.
“Two and a half months, what has she done?” asked neighbor Fathi Shubeir, pointing out that the victims were civilians in an area designated as safe. Temperatures in the devastated enclave soared above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius).
The Israeli military said its operations are aimed at dismantling Hamas’ capabilities and that it seeks to avoid civilian casualties, but could not comment specifically on Saturday’s strike without further details.
Muwasi is among the heavily populated zones of Gaza where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to expand military operations. The mobilization is expected to take weeks, with analysts suggesting the threat may also be intended to pressure Hamas to release more of the hostages it seized during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.
Families of hostages, however, fear that a new offensive could put the remaining captives at greater risk. Of about 50 still held in Gaza, only 20 are believed to be alive. Anguish deepened recently when videos emerged showing emaciated hostages speaking under duress and pleading for food and help.
A group representing the families called on Israelis to take to the streets Sunday. “Across the country, hundreds of citizen-led initiatives will pause daily life and join the most just and moral struggle: the struggle to bring all 50 hostages home,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the United Nations warned that hunger and malnutrition in Gaza have reached their highest levels since the war began. Many Palestinians are forced to drink contaminated water as diseases spread, while some Israeli leaders continue to openly discuss the mass relocation of people from the territory.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported 11 additional malnutrition-related deaths in the past 24 hours, including one child, raising the total to 251 during the war.
Humanitarian access remains severely constrained. The U.N. and aid groups say delivering supplies to Gaza’s 2 million people and ensuring safe distribution is extremely difficult due to Israeli restrictions and desperate crowds.
Two decades after Gaza withdrawal, Israel remains deeply entangled
The U.N. human rights office said at least 1,760 people have been killed while trying to obtain aid since May 27. Among them, 766 died along supply convoy routes, while 994 were killed near “non-U.N. militarized sites” — a reference to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by Israel and the U.S., which has been the primary aid distributor since May.
The war erupted after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel. In response, Israel’s offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which says roughly half of the dead are women and children. Though Israel disputes those figures, it has not provided alternative numbers.
The Health Ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-led government but staffed by medical professionals, and the U.N. along with independent experts consider its data the most reliable source of casualty figures.
Source: Agency