At least 19 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight in Gaza, as mediators hope to reach a ceasefire deal after months of contentious negotiations.
Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have left at least 19 dead tonight, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the region Sunday to seal a ceasefire deal.
The latest Israeli airstrike hit a home early Sunday in the central city of Deir el-Balah. A woman and her six children were among the dead, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children’s grandfather, said his daughter, a schoolteacher, was with her husband and children when their house was hit.
The children ranged in age from 18 months to 15 years, he said, adding that the father was hospitalized after the strike.
“The bodies of the six children are all torn to pieces. They were put in one bag,” the grandfather told reporters outside the hospital. “What did they do? Did they kill Jews? Will this ensure Israel’s security?”
Another strike in the northern city of Jabaliya hit two apartments in a residential building. Two men, a woman and her daughter were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Separately, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for helping Palestinian refugees, posted a video online showing the extent of the damage caused by Israel during the ten-month war in the northern Gaza Strip.
Another strike in central Gaza killed four people, according to Awda hospital, and late Saturday, a strike near Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, according to Nasser hospital.
Ceasefire negotiations: light at the end of the tunnel?
After months of contentious negotiations, American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators appeared to be moving closer to a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas after two days of talks in Doha.
American and Israeli officials have demonstrated a cautious optimismbut Hamas has expressed resistance to what it sees as new demands from Israel.
The new amended proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release hostages taken in the October 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the deadliest war in history between Israelis and Palestinians.
In return, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.
An Israeli delegation is due to travel to Cairo on Sunday to continue negotiations, and Mr Blinken is expected to meet Mr Netanyahu on Monday.
Mediators hope to end a war that killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people And caused a humanitarian catastrophe.
Experts continue to warn against the famine and the appearance of diseases such as the polioas the war rages and continues to devastate the Palestinians.
