With a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas tantalizingly close, families of hostages in the Gaza Strip are afraid to get their hopes up and agonizing over the unknown. “These days are horrible for us,” Yafit Zailer said Wednesday,

Quoting local sources, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 13 people were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home belonging to the "Shahin" family in the southern area of Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip.

Gaza's civil defence agency said on Wednesday that Israeli strikes killed at least 27 people, as the military issued new evacuation calls in northern areas of the Palestinian territory.The latest Israeli strikes come as truce mediator Qatar said negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza were in their "final stages".