Devastated father wonders why an Israeli strike killed his 4-year-old daughter

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Massa Abed, 4, brought a rubber ball and her doll to play with friends on the street near her family's home on Sunday. It was a mundane day in Zawaida, the central Gaza town where the Abeds returned weeks ago, with calm largely restored in the area.

But that afternoon, an Israeli strike hit a tent on the side of the road, killing Massa and some of the other children.

Her older brother, 16, grabbed Massa's little body and rushed to the hospital on a donkey cart. When she was pronounced dead, he wailed, holding her.

Days later, Massa's father, Samy Abed, turned the green ball in his hand, describing the incident to The Associated Press.

“She had a ball on her lap with a doll in her hand. Will she fight them with her football or doll?” he said. “She’s 4 years old. What can she do? She can’t even carry a rock.”

The Israeli army did not respond to requests for comment on the strike, and it remains unclear why the area — near the city of Deir al-Balah — was struck or who was targeted. Israeli officials have often blamed Hamas for civilian casualties, saying the Palestinian militant group regularly operates from residential areas and hospitals and accusing it using civilians as human shields.

Since Israel resumed attacksmore than a month ago, at least 809 children have been killed, said Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson with Gaza's Health Ministry.

Overall, the ministry says, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, in October 2023. Ministry officials do not differentiate between civilians and militant deaths but say that more than half the dead have been women and children. Israel says it has killed over 20,000 militants, without providing details on those deaths.

On March 18, a surprise Israeli bombardment shattered a six-week ceasefire mediated by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt; hundreds of Palestinians were killed. Mediation efforts to restore the ceasefire have faltered, and Israel has vowed more devastation if Hamas doesn’t release the remaining hostages kidnapped in its rampage on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

That Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others. Israel says 59 hostages remain in captivity, at least 35 of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, not allowing food, medicine, or assistance to enter the strip. The United Nations World Food Program said its stockpiles that it used to feed over 600,000 people daily are empty. Israel says the blockade’s aim is to increase pressure on Hamas to release the rest of the hostages and to disarm.

At the hospital where Massa's brother brought her, bodies of her young playmates lay nearby — a reminder, relatives said, of children in danger as attacks continue.

Massa had the confidence and bubbly personality of a teenager, socializing and conversing with everyone, her father said as he scrolled through photos and videos where she played and posed for the cameras.

He soon turned to photos of her body at the hospital.

“We see her when we’re asleep. When we wake up, we remember her,” he said.

Majdi Abed, Massa’s uncle, says he has regular visions of her. “I was sitting right here at 7 a.m., and I felt the girl coming toward me,” he said, describing how he frequently bursts into tears upon realizing it's not really Massa.

The family still expects her to show up at their breakfast table.

But, her father said, “her spot is empty.”

——

Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

FILE - The body of Aya Al-Talli, 5, killed in an Israeli army airstrike of the Gaza Strip, lies on the floor of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

FILE- Heba Shakura mourns her son Islam Abu Mahdi who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi,File)

FILE - Anas El Din Hegazy holds the body of his young brother, Zain, 4, who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike on a tent in Gaza City, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi,File)

FILE - Relatives of Massa Abed, 4, who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike on the Gaza Strip, carry her body at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Samy Abed, right, points at the spot where his 4-year-old daughter, Massa, was killed by an Israeli army strike in Zawaida, near the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mohammed Abed, left, stands next to his father, Samy, at the spot where his 4-year-old sister, Massa, was killed by an Israeli army strike in Zawaida, near the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Samy Abed shows a dress Tuesday, April 29, 2025, that his 4-year-old daughter, Massa, wore for the Eid festivities and a ball she used to play with before she was killed by an Israeli army strike in Zawaida, near the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mohammed Abed shows a mark left by shrapnel on a wall from the day his 4-year-old sister, Massa, was killed by an Israeli army strike in Zawaida, near the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Samy Abed shows a picture of his 4-year-old daughter, Massa, before she was killed by an Israeli army strike in Zawaida, near the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mohammed Abed shows on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, the dress that his 4-year-old sister, Massa, was wearing during the Eid festivities just weeks before she was killed by an Israeli army strike in Zawaida, near the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FILE - Mohammed Abed, center, weeps as he holds the body of his younger sister, Massa , 4, who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike on the Gaza Strip, at the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are falling on Wednesday following mixed profit reports from several big banks.

The S&P 500 sank 0.8% and was on track for a second straight loss after setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 177 points, or 0.4%, as of 2:18 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% lower.

Wells Fargo helped pull the market lower after falling 5%. The San Francisco-based bank reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected, with analysts citing lower trading fees and other miscellaneous items.

Bank of America fell 4.3% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, with some consternation about the size of its upcoming expenses. Citigroup, which is in the midst of a turnaround under Chair and CEO Jane Fraser, fell 4.2% following its own profit report.

Companies across industries need to report strong growth in profits to justify how high their stock prices have run recently. Analysts are looking for businesses across the S&P 500 to report earnings per share for the final three months of 2025 that are roughly 8% higher than a year earlier, according to FactSet.

Biogen sank 5.2% after the biotechnology company said it expects to take a hit to its profit for the fourth quarter of 2025 due to research and development expenses and other costs that it acquired.

The heaviest weights on the market were tech stocks, which gave back some of their huge gains made over recent years from the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Nvidia fell 2.1%, and Broadcom sank 4.6%.

Still, nearly as many stocks on Wall Street rose as fell, and the strongest forces keeping the S&P 500 from steeper losses were Exxon Mobil and other oil companies.

Exxon Mobil rose 3.5%, and Chevron climbed 2.7% as the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude added 1.3% to bring its gain for the year to more than 7%.

Oil prices have rallied as protests have swept Iran, which is a member of the OPEC group that helps set crude prices. The protests could lead to disruptions in production and squeeze supplies of crude.

Besides the rise in oil prices, gold's price also rose 0.9% toward a record in another signal of nervousness across financial markets.

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank as investors sought investments seen as safer. Several reports on the U.S. economy also came in mixed.

One said that shoppers spent more at U.S. retailers in November than economists expected. That could be an encouraging signal about the main engine of the U.S. economy, but economists pointed to some concerning signals were underneath the surface.

A separate report said prices rose modestly at the U.S. wholesale level in November. It followed a report on Tuesday that said inflation at the U.S. consumer level was close last month to economists’ expectations, though it remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

A third report said sales of occupied homes were stronger last month than economists expected. Taken altogether, the data did little to change Wall Street's expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate at least twice this year to shore up the job market, likely beginning around June, according to CME Group.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.14% from 4.18% late Tuesday.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.5% to another record expectations grew that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may call general elections soon.

Indexes were mixed elsewhere. Stocks rose 0.6% in Hong Kong but fell 0.3% in Shanghai after a report showed China’s trade surplus surged 20% in 2025 to a record despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

Specialist Michael Pistillo works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A dealer watches computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The screens show the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won are seen at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer walks past near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer stands near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)