A fresh Israeli strike on Gaza killed a 6-year-old girl and her parents Wednesday, Palestinian health officials said, as talks to advance the U.S.-brokered Gaza cease-fire deal faltered.
The strike on an apartment building in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed Omar Abu Qassem, his wife, Asma, and their daughter, Habeeba, medics said. Their son survived, but was injured, medics said.
The Israeli military claimed the strike targeted a Hamas member.
In the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike killed one person, medics said. The Israeli military didn't immediately comment on this incident.
Overall, at least 13 Palestinians were killed and 18 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours despite the truce, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Wednesday.
The ministry said 12 bodies were brought to hospitals across the enclave and one person died of earlier wounds.
It added that several victims remain trapped under rubble and on roads, as ambulance and civil defense teams were still unable to reach them.
The attacks marked Israel’s continued violations of the cease-fire agreement in effect since Oct. 10, 2025. The ministry said that Israeli attacks since then have killed 1,123 Palestinians and injured 3,616 others, while 800 bodies have been recovered.
Cease-fire falters
The latest violence also comes as Hamas leaders wrapped up another round of truce talks in Cairo Tuesday. The discussions – mediated by Egypt, Türkiye and Qatar – were aimed at implementing the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan.
The talks included the disarmament of Hamas and the Israeli military's withdrawal from the strip, according to sources close to the talks, who said there had been little progress amid deep distrust between the two sides.
The second phase also includes allowing a U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee to assume power from Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, and the start of the reconstruction of Gaza, which has been devastated by the war.
Five countries – Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania – have committed to providing troops to the U.S.-backed International Stabilization Force. However, none have yet been deployed as negotiations between Trump's Board of Peace and Hamas have stalled for months.
Speaking at an aid donor meeting in Brussels on Monday, Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, said he would be visiting Morocco Tuesday to "sign Morocco's contribution to the International Stabilization Force and soon we hope to see them on the ground undertaking their tasks."
Mladenov said the October cease-fire was holding but "imperfectly," with violations continuing, adding that Hamas has yet to agree to what he called a "roadmap" for negotiations.
Hamas official Basem Naim accused Mladenov of supporting Israel’s position in negotiations and failing to hold the country accountable for violating the cease-fire and not upholding the terms of the first phase of the Trump plan.
The plan called for Israel to withdraw its troops to a demarcated "yellow" line, but Israel has been slowly moving its troops forward and now effectively occupies more than 60% of the strip.
Hamas has repeatedly said that it cannot advance to the second phase of the peace plan until the terms of the first phase are fulfilled.
Nearly all of Gaza's 2 million people, most of whom have been displaced several times, now live on a tiny strip of land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings.
Israel's two-year genocidal war on Gaza has killed over 73,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Health Ministry.
The war was triggered by the 2023 Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which caused 1,200 deaths in southern Israel.