CAIRO: As Israeli tanks advanced into areas in the middle and southern parts of the enclave, Israeli attacks throughout the Gaza Strip killed at least 34 Palestinians overnight and on Tuesday, according to medical professionals.
In northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have been stationed since October, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 25 people and wounded scores more in a multi-story building, according to medical officials.
According to the Palestinian Civil Emergency, the majority of the deceased, including women and children, belonged to the same family. The victims were arranged in a single mass grave in the town, according to pictures that were posted online but that Reuters was unable to confirm right away.
At least seven individuals were murdered in another airstrike on a home in the central Gazan refugee camp of Nuseirat. According to the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service and medical professionals, it killed two persons in Rafah, south of the enclave, and injured a number of others.
Israeli naval troops arrested six Palestinian fisherman who attempted to enter the Mediterranean Sea earlier Tuesday, according to locals in the coastal town of Deir Al-Balah.
The ensuing 14-month Israeli military campaign on Gaza has killed over 44,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Although the United States-backed ceasefire attempts by Arab mediators Egypt and Qatar have not succeeded, new indications of hope among Israeli and Palestinian officials have raised the possibility that a solution to stop the war may be nearer.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Monday night that although it was too soon to tell if efforts would be successful, Hamas’ growing isolation following the overthrow of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad may pave the way for an agreement to return captives.
A Hamas source told Reuters that mediators have recently increased their efforts, stressing the group’s willingness to demonstrate the flexibility required “to end the aggression on our people,” but he declined to provide the details of the talks on Tuesday.
Hamas has requested that other Gaza factions provide a list of the names of Israeli and foreign captives in their hands, whether they are alive or dead, indicating possible progress in the negotiations, according to a Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediation effort.
While Netanyahu has declared that the war can only stop after Hamas is destroyed, Hamas wants an agreement that will halt the conflict and free Israeli and international inmates detained in Gaza as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
