Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas
CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine Palestinians in two separate attacks in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, bringing the weekend death toll to 97, Palestinian doctors said, as U.S. and Arab mediators stepped up efforts to conclusion of a cease-fire agreement.
Health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed five people in a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while another airstrike killed four more in Jabalia on the northern edge of the enclave, where Israeli forces have been operating for three months.
Israel has not commented on the two incidents.
Earlier on Sunday, Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli strikes across the territory had killed at least 88 Palestinians and wounded more than 200 others in the past 24 hours.
In the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, relatives and neighbors rushed to the home of the Zuhd family, which was hit in an Israeli airstrike late Saturday, killing seven people, doctors said. The search continued Sunday morning for four more people believed to be trapped under the rubble.
A hand belonging to one of the dead could be seen among the rubble, while the rest of his body was buried under the collapsed walls. Three men were removing the soil with their bare hands to retrieve bodies and search for possible survivors.
“The three young men, the son’s wife and three children are still here. We got this cousin of mine back. Another relative was killed and is now in hospital. Around 11 people were killed here,” his cousin Ammar Zuhd told Reuters.
ISRAEL SAYS DOZENS OF HAMAS MILITANTS HAVE BEEN KILLED
Israel’s military said in a statement on Sunday that its forces attacked more than 100 targets across Gaza over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas militants. He said he also destroyed rocket launch sites that had been used in rocket attacks on Israel in recent days.
There is a renewed push for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas and the return of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza, before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
Israeli negotiators were sent on Friday to resume talks in Doha with the mediation of Qatari and Egyptian mediators, while the administration of US President Joe Biden, which is helping mediate, urged Hamas to agree to the deal.
Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible, but it was unclear how close the two sides were.
Israel launched its attack on Gaza in response to an attack by Hamas militants on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s military campaign, with the stated goal of rooting out Hamas, leveled parts of the enclave, driving most people from their homes and killing 45,805 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Dawoud Abu Alkas in Gaza; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
