Dozens of Israeli strikes hit the Gaza Strip over the weekend as Israeli and Hamas officials continued indirect ceasefire talks mediated by Qatar.
Israel’s military said Sunday it hit more than 100 targets across the enclave over the weekend, including sites from which militants fired at least four missiles into Israeli territory on Friday and Saturday. It said the strikes killed Hamas militants and that the military had taken measures to mitigate the risk of civilian casualties. The claims could not be independently verified.
The Gaza Health Ministry announced on Sunday that 88 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours. The ministry’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Gaza Civil Defense, emergency services agencyannounced that his crews responded to multiple airstrikes on family homes on Sunday that killed and wounded several people.
Pressure is mounting on both sides to reach a ceasefire agreement that would include the release of hostages held in Gaza before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office on January 20. Hamas and Israel said they were sending delegations to the Qatari capital, Doha, to meet with mediators in recent days.
An Israeli delegation remained in Doha over the weekend, according to an Israeli person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorization to publicly discuss the secret talks. The person said the talks in Doha were moving slowly and were aimed at reaching a limited deal that would see a temporary cessation of fighting and the release of some Israeli hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Reflecting the enduring gap between the sides, at least in their public positions, Hamas said in a statement on Friday that the current round of talks would focus on an agreement leading to a full ceasefire and details on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Israel has not committed to ending the war, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity about sensitive diplomacy. he said last week.
About 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza out of some 250 people who were captured during the October 2023 Hamas-led attack that sparked the war. It is assumed that at least a third of them are dead.
A week-long truce in November 2023 allowed the release of 105 hostages, but subsequent efforts to reach a ceasefire failed due to gaps in the two sides’ demands. Both sides blame the other for the failure to reach an agreement.
Israeli officials recently said they believe Hamas is rebuilding its forces in Gaza. The group appears to be recruiting new fighters faster than Israel can eliminate them.
Security officials reportedly he told an Israeli parliamentary committee last week that Hamas has up to 19,000 fighters, of which around 9,000 are in organized units. Before the war Israel it is estimated that Hamas had approximately 25,000 fighters, although Hamas has never confirmed that figure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said November that the Israeli army killed close to 20,000 fighters.
In total, more than 45,000 Palestinians were killed during the war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
And as hopes for even a limited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas rise again, Palestinians and human rights groups say humanitarian situation in Gaza it becomes even more desperate.
Palestine Red Crescent Society he said on Sunday that Israeli airstrikes near Al-Amal Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis overnight caused significant damage to several hospital facilities and killed one person.
Last week, Israeli forces stormed the last remaining major hospital in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan, and forced his staff and patients to evacuate. The Israeli military said Kamal Adwan was a Hamas stronghold and was conducting “targeted operations” in the area.
The hospital has been the main provider of medical care in the northernmost part of Gaza amid a months-long offensive by the Israeli military against what is said to be a resurgent Hamas.
World Health Organization he said that the raid on Kamal Adwan “put the last major health facility in North Gaza out of commission” – and that the remaining patients, carers and health workers were transferred to an Indonesian hospital.
But on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry said an Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza was no longer serving patients or the wounded, leaving the northern part of the enclave without a single functional hospital in the midst of almost constant bombardment.
Aaron Boxerman contributed to this report.
