The army did not comment on this attack, but said that it “follows international law and takes possible precautions to mitigate harm to civilians.”
Among the 14 dead in Abu Anza's house were six children and four women, according to Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, director of the hospital to which the bodies were taken. In addition to her husband and children, Rania also lost her sister, nephew, pregnant cousin, and other relatives.
Farouk Abu Anza, one of his relatives, said that about 35 people were residing in the house, some of whom were displaced from other areas. He added that they are all civilians, most of them are children, and that none of them are armed.
Rania and her husband Wissam, both 29, spent a decade trying to get pregnant. Two rounds of IVF failed, but after the third round, she learned she was pregnant early last year. The twins were born on October 13.
She added that her husband, a day laborer, was so proud that he insisted on naming the girl after him.
“I didn't get enough of them,” she said. “I swear I couldn't get enough of them.”
Less than a week ago, militants led by Hamas stormed southern Israel in a surprise attack, sweeping through local communities, killing about 1,200 people – most of them civilians – and taking about 250 hostage, including children and newborns.
Israel responded with one of the fiercest and most destructive military campaigns in modern history.
The war led to the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. About 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and a quarter of the population faces famine.
Negotiations are on the edge
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday called on the Palestinian Hamas movement to agree to an immediate six-week ceasefire, while strongly urging Israel to make more efforts to enhance aid delivery to Gaza, where she said innocent people were suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe.
Harris pressed the Israeli government and outlined specific ways for how more aid could flow into the densely populated enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people face starvation after a five-month Israeli military campaign.
“Given the sheer scale of the suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire,” Harris said during an event in Alabama. “There is a deal on the table, and as we said, Hamas needs to agree to this deal. Let us reach a ceasefire.”
“People in Gaza are starving. Conditions are inhumane and our shared humanity compels us to act… The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. There are no excuses,” she said.
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A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo to participate in the latest round of ceasefire talks, which many described as the potential last obstacle to the truce, but it was not clear whether any progress had been made. Israeli newspaper Yedioth AhronothThe online version of the website reported that Israel boycotted the talks after Hamas rejected its request to provide a complete list of the names of the hostages who are still alive.
Washington insists that a ceasefire agreement is close and is pressing to reach a truce by the beginning of the month of Ramadan within a week. A US official said that Israel had agreed to a framework agreement.
The agreement would lead to the first extended truce in the war that has been raging for five months now, with only a week-long pause in November. Dozens of hostages held by Hamas activists will be released in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees.
