KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — A young life was abruptly cut short on Monday, May 25, 2026 when an Israeli airstrike targeted a tent encampment housing displaced families in the southern Gaza Strip. The attack killed two people, including six-year-old Mennatallah Abu Libda, who was struck while playing right outside the entrance of her family's makeshift shelter.

The strike, which hit the designated humanitarian zone of Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, also claimed the life of a 31-year-old woman, Hanan Mahmoud, and left 17 other Palestinians wounded, including several children.

Witnesses stated that the attack was carried out by two military helicopters that fired on the densely packed tent city. According to medical sources, the localized blast tore directly through the canvas shelter where Mennatallah’s family had been living.

Following the strike, distraught relatives gathered at the local hospital to bid their final farewells. Mourners wept openly over the small body of the young girl, which was wrapped in a traditional white burial shroud.

"This little girl, a little bird from the birds of paradise, was playing at the door of her home," her grandmother, Soheir Abu Libda, said through tears, referring to the tent's entrance.

The strike comes amid growing public frustration over a hollow October ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. While designed to bring an end to the hostilities, the truce has completely failed to halt active military operations across the enclave.

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas remain completely deadlocked as both sides argue over the implementation of the deal’s second phase, which demands the disarmament of militant groups and a total withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza.

The current geopolitical division leaves Israel in control of more than half of the Gaza Strip, while Hamas maintains authority over a slim, crowded corridor along the coastline.

When questioned about the deadly incident in Al-Mawasi, the Israeli military told reporters that it had targeted active militants operating in the area, though officials provided no further details or evidence regarding specific individuals targeted in the encampment. Israel has consistently maintained that its post-ceasefire strikes are defensive measures meant to thwart imminent attacks or stop people from breaching its armistice lines.

However, families on the ground express a profound sense of abandonment by the international community. Since the brokered truce supposedly took effect in autumn, local health officials report that approximately 900 Palestinians have been killed in ongoing Israeli strikes. During that same period, the Israeli military reports that four of its soldiers have been killed by militants.

"There is no ceasefire, nothing at all," said Khader Abu Libda, a relative of Mennatallah, during her funeral procession on Monday afternoon. "It's all just deceiving people, nothing more and nothing less."