Deir al-Balah, Gaza - Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces pounded the Palestinian territory on Thursday, killing at least 12 people including three girls, 15 months into the genocide.

Three girls and their father were killed when an air strike hit their house in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the civil defense agency reported.

Local paramedic Mahmud Awad said he helped transfer the bodies of two girls and their father, Mahmud Abu Kharuf to a hospital.

"Their bodies were found under the rubble of the house that the occupation bombed in the Nuseirat camp," Awad told AFP. He added that the body of the third girl had been found earlier by residents.

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In a separate strike, eight people were killed when their house was struck in the town of Jabalia in northern Gaza, where the Israeli army has focused its brutal attacks since October 6.

Several more were wounded in that strike, the civil defense agency said.

Israeli air strikes and shelling continues across Gaza, even as Qatar, Egypt, and the US mediate negotiations in Doha between Israel and Hamas for a deal to end the assault on Gaza and secure the release of hostages.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Paris once again said that a ceasefire was "very close."

"I hope that we can get it over the line in the time that we have," Blinken said, referring to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20.

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But if not, "I believe that when we get that deal – and we'll get it – it'll be on the basis of the plan that President (Joe) Biden put before the world back in May."

In May, Biden unveiled a three-phase plan for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza. All the while, he has continued to supply Israel with billions of dollars' worth of deadly weapons.