The baby’s parents and brother were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike that levelled their home
Ella Osama Abu Dagga, 25 days old, lies in a van after being pulled from the rubble following an Israeli army airstrike that killed her parents and brother in Khan Younisopen image in gallery
Ella Osama Abu Dagga, 25 days old, lies in a van after being pulled from the rubble following an Israeli army airstrike that killed her parents and brother in Khan Younis (Copyright 2025, The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Your support helps us to tell the story
Support Now
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Rescuers have pulled a 25-day-old baby girl alive from the rubble of her home in Gaza's Khan Younis after an airstrike killed her parents and brother.
Amid the devastation of a collapsed apartment building, rescuers were met with the beacon of hope on Thursday – the faint cries of a baby.
Suddenly, cries of "God is great" erupted as a rescuer emerged from the wreckage, a tiny infant cradled in his arms. The baby, wrapped in a blanket, was rushed to a waiting ambulance and checked by paramedics.
The infant's parents and brother perished in the overnight Israeli airstrike that levelled their home.
"When we asked people, they said she is a month old and she has been under the rubble, since dawn," said Hazen Attar, a civil defence first responder.
He described the moments leading up to the rescue: "She had been screaming and then falling silent from time to time until we were able to get her out a short while ago, and thank God she is safe."
Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesdayopen image in gallery
Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday (Copyright 2025, The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
The girl was identified as Ella Osama Abu Dagga. She had been born 25 days earlier, in the midst of a tenuous ceasefire that many Palestinians in Gaza had hoped would mark the end of a war that has devastated the enclave, killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly its entire population.
Only the girl's grandparents survived the attack. Killed were her brother, mother and father, along with another family that included a father and his seven children. Rescuers digging through the rubble could be seen pulling out the small body of a child sprawled on the mattress where he had been sleeping.
It was not immediately clear who would take the rescued infant girl in.
Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering the truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected a new proposal for the second phase of the ceasefire that departed from their signed agreement, which was mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
Nearly 600 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including more than 400 on Tuesday alone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Health officials said most of the victims were women and children.
A volunteer attempts to pull the body of a man from the rubble following an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younisopen image in gallery
A volunteer attempts to pull the body of a man from the rubble following an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younis (Copyright 2025, The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
The strike that destroyed the infant girl’s home hit Abasan al-Kabira, a village just outside of Khan Younis near the border with Israel, killing at least 16 people, mostly women and children, according to the nearby European Hospital, which received the dead.
It was inside an area the Israeli military ordered evacuated earlier this week, encompassing most of eastern Gaza.
The Israel military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it is deeply embedded in residential areas. The military did not immediately comment on the overnight strikes.
Hours later, the Israeli military restored a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, that it had maintained for most of the war, but which had been lifted under the ceasefire deal.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned to what remains of their homes in the north after a ceasefire took hold in January.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Israel’s blistering retaliatory air and ground offensive has killed nearly 49,000 Palestinians since then, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.