An Israeli airstrike killed Omar Abu Qassem, his wife, Asma, and their daughter, Habeeba, in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, while their three-year-old son, Sami, survived but was injured, Palestinian health officials said. The strike hit an apartment building in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas militant. Same building. Different official story. Ordinary people still end up under the rubble, and the paperwork arrives later.
Friends and relatives gathered at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, where they paid farewell to the three white-shrouded bodies before burying them after special prayers. Abu Anas Shahin, a relative, told Reuters: "The child is the lone survivor. How (to live) without a father, without a mother? What kind of cruelty is this that the people of Palestine, the people of Gaza, are enduring?" He added: "Where is the mercy? Where is the humanity?" United Nations figures as of November 2025 said more than 58,000 children in Gaza have lost one or both parents.
The Ceasefire That Doesn't Stop the Shelling
In Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike killed one person, medics said. The Israeli military didn't immediately comment on that incident. The deaths add to a toll of more than 1,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to health officials in the enclave. Hamas doesn't usually disclose information about its fatalities. The truce halted major fighting, but has failed to stop near-daily Israeli strikes. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.
That is the machinery of the ceasefire: not peace, just a managed rhythm of violence. The state keeps its monopoly on force. Hamas keeps its own. Civilians keep burying the dead.
Cairo Talks, Foreign Brokers, Same Old Gridlock
The latest violence came as Hamas leaders wrapped up another round of truce talks in Cairo on Tuesday. The discussions were mediated by Egypt, Turkey and Qatar and were aimed at implementing the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan. Sources close to the talks said the discussions included the disarmament of Hamas and the Israeli military's withdrawal from the strip, but 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, but 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 on 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 ceasefire was holding but "imperfectly" with violations continuing, and said Hamas has yet to agree to what he called a "roadmap" for negotiations.
Who Rules, Who Waits
Hamas official Basem Naim accused Mladenov of supporting Israel’s position in negotiations and failing to hold the country accountable for violating the ceasefire 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, under Hamas control. Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people during their cross-border attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. The Gazan health ministry said Israel’s subsequent offensive on the strip killed more than 73,000 Palestinians.
The diplomats keep calling it a roadmap. The people on the ground get the map drawn over their homes, then redrawn after the next strike. Egypt, Turkey and Qatar mediate. The U.S. backs the plan. The Board of Peace sends an envoy. Five countries promise troops. Hamas and Israel keep their own armed structures intact. And Gaza stays packed into tents, damaged buildings, and a strip of coast where every authority claims to be managing the crisis it helped create.