Gaza: Family mourns 10-year-old killed in Israeli tank shelling
A 10-year-old girl, Amal Abu Khatir, was killed in an Israeli tank strike in southern Gaza, her family says. Hospital officials report at least four dead, including two children.
In the southern Gaza Strip, relatives gathered around the body of 10-year-old Amal Abu Khatir, who was killed by tank shelling, according to Nasser Hospital. The girl's grandmother, Samira Abu Khatir, wept over the body, saying, "A girl was eating, when she was shot in the back and killed instantly. She died immediately. A little girl, only ten years old. She hadn't done anything."
Hospital officials said at least four people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, including two children. The Israeli military said it was not aware of the incident. In a separate strike in Khan Younis, a man was killed and five others wounded, according to Nasser Hospital.
Later in the day, several strikes hit the strip, prompting desperate displaced Palestinians to flee once again after receiving warnings from the Israeli army. Plumes of smoke rose over the battered landscape, with rubble and destroyed buildings visible in every direction. Elderly people pushed themselves along in wheelchairs or with canes, women carried babies, and many sprinted, trying to reach what they hoped would be a safer area.
Monday's deaths are the latest among Palestinians in Gaza since a fragile ceasefire deal in October attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes, killing at least 1,288 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts, but it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to those and other violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire. The Oct. 7 attack by militants on Israel killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,422 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza's Health Ministry said.