Pregnant woman and her four kids killed in Gaza airstrike

A pregnant woman and her four children have tragically been killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza, according to Palestinian medical officials.

The strike, which occurred on Wednesday, targeted a house in the Bureij refugee camp, as reported by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press journalist confirmed seeing the bodies. Hospital records revealed that the woman, aged 35, was six months pregnant and her children were between eight and 18 years old.

Israel maintains that it strives to avoid civilian casualties and blames Hamas for endangering them by operating in densely populated residential areas. Over the past day, local hospitals received the bodies of 28 people killed in Israeli airstrikes, and another 85 people were injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago, the ministry reports that a total of 41,495 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with another 96,006 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count, stating that women and children constitute slightly more than half of those killed.

The Israeli military claims to have killed over 17,000 militants, although no evidence has been provided to support this claim. The ongoing conflict has between Israel and Hamas has escalated with rebel Houthis in Yemen having carried out attacks in the Red Sea and Israel proper.

US President Joe Biden has pushed for a longstanding ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, although his efforts have proved largely unsuccessful so far. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas amid the country's operation to rescue hostages taken during the October 7 massacre.

Israel has also launched airstrikes into neighbouring Lebanon following rocket attacks by terrorist organisation Hezbollah. The strikes have killed civilians, including children, and Hezbollah have successfully landed rockets into the Israeli city of Haifa.