KEY POINTS
- Gaza death toll surpasses 45,097 as Israel continues bombardment.
- Progress reported in ceasefire talks but no agreement yet.
- Israeli airstrikes hit Beit Lahiya, Gaza City, Nuseirat, Rafah, and Beit Hanoon.
- WHO condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza hospitals.
- CIA Director William Burns is in Doha for talks.
DOHA, Qatar: Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday that at least 38 people have been killed and 203 wounded in Israeli attacks over the latest 24-hour as international mediators intensified efforts to conclude an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war.
The United States, joined by Arab mediators, sought on Wednesday to conclude an agreement to halt the 14-month-old war in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, sources close to the talks in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, said an agreement could be signed in the coming days on a ceasefire and release of hostages held in Gaza in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Reuters reported.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in a house in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, where army forces have operated since October, while six were killed in separate airstrikes in Gaza City, Nuseirat camp in central areas, and Rafah near the border with Egypt.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military spokesman.
At least six people have been killed in an Israeli raid on a house in Beit Hanoon in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.
The northern cities of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoon and the Jabalia camp have been under Israeli siege for more than two months.
Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US have made intensive efforts in recent days to advance the talks before President Joe Biden leaves office next month.
On Wednesday, a Palestinian official close to the negotiations said mediators had narrowed gaps on most of the agreement’s clauses but he said Israel had introduced conditions which Hamas rejected.
CIA Director William Burns was due in Doha on Wednesday for talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on bridging remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reported citing knowledgeable sources.
Israeli negotiators were in Doha on Monday looking to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas on a deal Biden outlined in May.
There have been repeated rounds of talks over the past year, all of which have failed, with Israel insisting on retaining a military presence in Gaza and Hamas refusing to release hostages until the troops pulled out.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has launched a relentless bombardment campaign in Gaza killing at least 45,097 Palestinians, mostly women and children, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins.
Israeli Attacks on Medical Facilities
The World Health Organization (WHO) said an international medical team urgently needed at Kamal Adwan Hospital has not been allowed to deploy as Israel continues its siege in northern Gaza.
Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, also condemned the repeated attacks on the medical facility.
“The fear endured by the hospital’s staff and patients in recent days is indescribable – and unacceptable,” she wrote on X.
The representative for the UN health agency said the hospital was without surgical or maternal care capacity.
WHO was instead able to deliver supplies to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Balkhy said.
