An Israeli airstrike on Gaza has killed seven members of the same family as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel to call for a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, officials announced Sunday.
The blast killed six children and their mother, CNN reported, when their home in Deir al-Balah was hit, according to the Al-Aqsa hospital. The children’s father was reportedly injured in the strike.
“They were taken by surprise when a missile hit them and completely destroyed their apartment,” the children’s grandfather, Muhammad Awad Khattab, told CNN. “What did they do to deserve this?” he said. “What resistance did they have?”
Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, his ninth trip to Israel since Oct. 7, when Hamas rebels launched a surprise attack on an outdoor event in Israel, killing more than 1,200 people.
President Joe Biden expressed optimism after arriving at Andrews Air Force base Sunday.
“It’s still underway, we’re not giving up, [it’s] still possible,” Biden said.
Retaliatory attacks and the ensuing war have left at least 40,000 people, the majority of them Gazans, dead, according to the Hamas’ Health Ministry.
The latest attack comes one day after an Israeli strike killed at least 18 people, all from the same family, in the al-Zawayda area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Nine children were among those killed, according to Gaza Civil Defense. The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the attack, media reports said.
“Reports were received that as a result of the strike, civilians in an adjacent structure were killed. The incident is under review,” the IDF said.
Blinken is scheduled to meet Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog, according to a senior State Department official. Blinken is then scheduled to continue on to Egypt on Tuesday.
Cairo has been heavily involved in trying to negotiate a cease-fire, including talks with Israel on Sunday after two days of negotiations in Qatar.
“I want to emphasize, we are conducting negotiations — give-and-take and not give-and-give,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “There are areas where we can show flexibility, and there are areas where we can’t show flexibility – and we are standing firm on them. We know quite well how to distinguish between the two.”
Israel narrowed what is considered to be a safe zone in Gaza by issuing evacuation orders in north Khan Younis and east Deir al-Balah on Friday as it continues its move to carry out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal of “eliminating” Hamas.
In a statement Sunday, the Israeli military said forces continue to operate in Khan Younis and Dir al-Balah. The IDF said it struck “targets in the area from which the launches were fired toward Nirim and destroyed loaded launchers in the area of Khan Younis,” CNN reported. (UPI)