Five dead from Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital

CAIRO:

An Israeli airstrike hit a tent inside a hospital compound in central Gaza, killing at least five people, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed on Sunday to 19, Gaza health officials said, after another round of talks ended in vain.

The airstrike hit a staging area inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital complex, causing a fire and injuring at least 18 people in addition to the five killed, medical authorities said.

The Israeli military said it hit a fighter jet “carrying out terrorist activities” and that secondary explosions were detected, indicating weapons were in the area.

Its statement added that it hit 50 military targets across the enclave in the past 24 hours, including militant cells.

The hospital complex is located in the Deir Al-Balah area, which is full of thousands of people who have been displaced by the fighting in other parts of the enclave.

Elsewhere in Deir Al-Balah, three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli rocket hit a house, while eight other people were killed inside their home in Jabalia camp in northern Gaza City and three inside a car in separate Israeli raids.

Reuters footage showed Palestinians trying to fight the fire that broke out in the tent camp with water and small fire extinguishers.

Also read: Israeli airstrike targets Gaza, West Bank

Israeli forces continued strikes and shelling the Gaza Strip after diplomatic efforts in Cairo on Saturday ended without progress and as Israel prepares for a major escalation in the north.

Sirens went off in the Ashdod area, further north than seen in recent weeks, and the Israeli military said five rockets were fired from southern Gaza. No injuries were reported.

Chances of revolution appear slim as regional tension has soared after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fouad Soukr, a top military commander of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Haniyeh’s death was one in a series of assassinations of senior Hamas figures as the war in Gaza approaches its 11th month.

Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out Haniyeh’s assassination and have vowed to retaliate. Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the death.

Hezbollah, like Hamas, is backed by Iran and has also vowed revenge after Shukr’s murder.

Two sides away

International pressure has mounted on Israel to agree a ceasefire with Hamas to end the fighting and ensure the return of 115 Israeli and foreign hostages taken in the October 7 attack on Israel that unleashed months of violence and are still being held in Gaza. .

At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, according to Gaza health officials.

A high-level Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday in an attempt to restart ceasefire negotiations in Gaza, but returned home later in the day, Egyptian airport authorities and Israeli media said.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Hamas had not yet agreed to the terms of a proposed plan for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

He said there was still disagreement over Israel’s insistence on being able to return to fighting if necessary, maintaining Israeli control over the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphia Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, and the need for a mechanism to control and preventing weapons and fighters from returning to northern Gaza.

Read: Rockets fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel

Hamas has blamed Netanyahu for the lack of progress, saying it is not interested in a deal.

“Things about the deal have gone beyond the details,” said Hamas official Sami Abu Zohri. “Netanyahu is dragging the region into an unprecedented conflict”.

The families of many of the hostages, as well as other political opponents of Hamas and Netanyahu, accused him of blocking a deal for his own political purposes.

Biden used unusually angry words in a phone conversation Thursday night as he pushed Netanyahu to reach a deal, Israeli media reported.

A Palestinian official with close knowledge of Saturday’s talks said the threatened response to the assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and the process to replace Haniyeh meant diplomatic efforts were unlikely to resume soon.