The latest casualties follow a rare moment of hope in war ravaged Gaza, after a rescue team recovered a live baby from a heavily pregnant Palestinian mother killed in an airstrike that hit her home in Nuseirat late Thursday evening.
Thirteen people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on two refugee camps in central Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Palestinian ambulance teams said one woman and three children were among the dead at Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, from where they transported bodies to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.
The strike follows a similar attacks on Nuseirat earlier this week, in which seven people were killed including a heavily pregnant woman.
Emergency workers at the Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza managed to save and deliver the baby.
The unnamed newborn is stable but has suffered from a shortage of oxygen and has been placed in an incubator, said Dr. Khalil Dajran.
The baby boy’s father was wounded in the same strike, but survived.
‘Inside the 10-yard line’
It comes as ceasefire talks continue in Gaza, where international mediators continue to push a phased deal between Israel and Hamas which would see an end to fighting and the release of at least 120 hostages in Gaza.
On Friday, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel that will release Israeli hostages captive by the group in Gaza are “inside the 10-yard line,” but added “we know that anything in the last 10 yards are the hardest.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a non-binding opinion that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful, saying Israel could not claim sovereignty in the territories and was impeding Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
In an unprecedented move, the court called for an end to settlement construction and asked that existing settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem be removed.
Israel did not send a legal team to the hearings, but submitted written comments, saying that the questions put to the court were prejudiced and failed to address Israeli security concerns.
