Israel steps up bombing of Gaza as ceasefire talks intensify | News on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
U.S. and Arab mediators are working around the clock to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, sources close to the talks told Reuters, while medics in the Gaza Strip said Israeli strikes killed 41 Palestinians on Thursday been.
Mediators are trying to forge a deal at talks in Egypt and Qatar to break the 14-month-old war in the besieged enclave. This includes the release of the Palestinian prisoners seized and held by Israel on October 7, 2023.
The mediators managed to close some gaps in previous points of contention, but differences remained, the sources said.
In Gaza, medics said at least 13 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes overnight, including on two houses in Gaza City and a central camp.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed nine people near the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, while another killed four others at a housing project near Beit Lahiya in the north. There was no Israeli comment.
Later on Thursday, airstrikes killed at least 15 Palestinians in two shelters housing displaced families in the eastern Gaza City suburb of Tuffah, medics said, raising Thursday’s death toll to 41.
The Israeli military said it attacked Hamas militants operating in command and control complexes in areas that were formerly the Al-Karama and Sha’ban schools in Tuffah. It said Hamas used the complexes to plan and carry out attacks against its forces.
