Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 19 Palestinians overnight, including several children, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the region on Sunday to try to seal a ceasefire deal after months of contentious negotiations.
The US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar appeared to be closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas has signalled dissatisfaction to what it says are new demands by Israel, and the long-running talks have repeatedly stalled.
The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike early Sunday on a home in the central town of Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Concerns over entire families being wiped out were also raised after Israel bombed a warehouse sheltering displaced Palestinians in the az-Zawayda area of central Gaza, killing 15 members of one family, including nine children.
A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya targeted two apartments in a residential building, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Another strike in central Gaza killed four people, according to the Awda Hospital. Late Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, the Nasser Hospital announced.
The mediators have spent months trying to halt the war on the Strip, efforts that gained new urgency after the targeted killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr last month, both attributed to Israel. The killings brought vows of revenge from Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, raising fears of an all-out war across the Middle East.
