Israeli Strike Kills a Family of Four in Beit Lahiya as Gaza's Ceasefire Wears Thin

An Israeli strike in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza has killed a Palestinian couple and their two young daughters, one of several attacks across the territory this week that underline how violent daily life remains almost a year into a US-backed ceasefire.

The family, named as Momen Abdul-Rahman Ahmad, his wife Haneen, and their daughters Lana, aged 12, and Bana, aged 8, were killed near Kamal Adwan Hospital. Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said the family's bodies had been recovered in pieces.

A ceasefire that has not stopped the strikes

The ceasefire that took effect in October 2025 was meant to bring the fighting to an end, but Israeli air and drone strikes, and shooting near the lines where Israeli forces are deployed, have continued. On Wednesday alone, a drone strike in the al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City wounded three people, a mosque west of Nuseirat refugee camp was targeted, and strikes on Nuseirat and on the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis wounded several more. Israeli forces also opened fire near Jabalia camp.

Separately, Israeli security forces said they had killed Farah Hamed, whom they described as a senior Hamas operative, in an airstrike in Gaza City. Israel accused him of involvement in shooting attacks in the West Bank in 2002 and 2003.

According to Gaza's health authorities, Israel's war on the territory has killed 73,669 people and injured 174,652 since 7 October 2023.

Why it matters

The steady toll shows that the ceasefire has reduced the scale of the violence without ending it, and civilians remain exposed. Gaza's health system is also still close to collapse. This week the main generator at al-Ahli Arab Hospital stopped working because of shortages of fuel and spare parts, forcing it to suspend imaging services, including the only CT scanner in northern Gaza.

The humanitarian outlook is darkening as winter approaches. Most of Gaza's 2.1 million people are living in overcrowded displacement sites ahead of the rainy season, facing a high risk of flooding and disease. UN agencies say efforts to help families prepare are being held back by funding shortfalls and restrictions on access. Israel has said it will close the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for goods, on Sunday for the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Gaza's future is also becoming an issue in Israel's election campaign, ahead of the vote on 27 October. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister and leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, has unveiled a plan he calls "Disengagement 710". It sets targets for 250,000 Gazans to leave in the first year and 1.86 million within seven years, framed as voluntary emigration. The UN human rights chief has described such proposals as ethnic cleansing. Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, said this week that Israel has "no plans to expel or to deport" Palestinians from Gaza.

Key points

• The strike: a couple and their daughters, aged 12 and 8, killed in Beit Lahiya.
• A wider pattern: drone and air strikes hit Gaza City, Nuseirat and al-Mawasi on the same day.
• The toll: 73,669 killed since October 2023, according to Gaza's health authorities.
• Hospitals: northern Gaza's only CT scanner is out of action after a generator failure.
• Politics: emigration plans for Gaza are now part of Israel's election debate.

Outlook

The coming weeks will test the ceasefire on several fronts at once. The rainy season will put the makeshift camps under strain, the holiday closure at Kerem Shalom will briefly slow deliveries, and the Israeli election campaign is pushing hardline ideas about Gaza's population into the mainstream.

Without a political track that addresses who governs and rebuilds Gaza, strikes like the one in Beit Lahiya are likely to remain a recurring feature of a truce that has paused the war rather than ended it.

Image: Ashraf Amra via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo