Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 19 people overnight, including a woman and her six children, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday headed to the region to try to seal a ceasefire deal after months of contentious negotiations.
The US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar appeared to be closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with US and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism.
However, Hamas has signaled resistance to what it says are new demands by Israel, and the talks have stalled repeatedly.
Photo: Reuters
The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office expressed “cautious optimism” a deal could be reached.
An Israeli delegation was yesterday to travel to Cairo for further talks, and Blinken is expected to meet with Netanyahu today.
Netanyahu’s office called for “heavy pressure” on Hamas to reach a breakthrough.
The Palestinian group, as well as some analysts and Israeli protesters, have accused Netanyahu of hamstringing a deal to safeguard his hard-right ruling coalition.
“We have a prime minister that is not so much willing to release the hostages, to finish the war, because he has he own interests,” Yossi, a 53-year-old protester, said as thousands rallied in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to bring home the captives still held in Gaza.
The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike early yesterday on a home in the central town of Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the bodies.
A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments in a residential building, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said.
Another strike in central Gaza killed four people, the Awda Hospital said.
Late on Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, Nasser Hospital said.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, because the group conceals fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas.
The mediators have spent months trying to halt the fighting, efforts that gained new urgency after the targeted killing of two top militants last month, both attributed to Israel, brought vows of revenge from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, raising fears of an all-out war across the Middle East.
Additional reporting by AFP
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