CAIRO: Israeli military strikes killed dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics said, as Egypt hosted an Israeli delegation for a new round of talks in an attempt to broker a truce with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
The warring parties stepped up talks, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of the Israeli offensive in exchange for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages still held by Hamas fighters in Gaza after their October 7 attack on southern Israel.
Hamas has sought to fast-track any deal to end the fighting and withdraw Israeli forces. Israel ruled it out, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle Hamas’s governmental and military capabilities.
Hamas will not be present at the talks in Cairo, an official told Reuters on Sunday, awaiting word from mediators on whether a new Israeli offer was on the table.
In the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continued to blockade two major hospitals and tanks-shelled areas in the central and eastern areas of the territory.
Palestinian medics said an Israeli airstrike killed nine people in Bani Suhaila near Khan Younis, while another airstrike killed four people in the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip.
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In Deir Al-Balah, health officials and Hamas media said an Israeli airstrike hit several tents at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital, killing four people and wounding several, including some journalists.
In Gaza City, Israeli forces continued to operate at Al Shifa Hospital, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Residents living nearby said residential areas were destroyed by Israeli forces near Al Shifa.
“I went out to buy some medicine from the pharmacy and what I saw broke my heart. Whole streets with buildings that were there were destroyed,” said 49-year-old Abu Mustafa.
“…This is not war, this is genocide,” he told Reuters by phone from Gaza City.
Like the rest of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, Abu Mustafa, a father of six, is struggling to provide food for his family in the enclave’s north, where the UN has warned famine is at risk.
