GAZA STRIP: With diplomatic attempts underway to reach a ceasefire and prisoner release deal, fatal Israeli attacks continued unabatedly in the Palestinian enclave, killing numerous individuals, including children. Among them was a deputy minister of labor nominated by Hamas.
The attack claimed the lives of Ehab al-Ghussein and three other individuals, the Civil Emergency Service said on Sunday.
One of Hamas’s allies in Lebanon, Hezbollah, launched missile salvoes at northern Israel in the most recent cross-border skirmishes that heightened tensions toward a full-scale conflict.
In Israel, anti-government demonstrators calling for a prisoner release agreement blocked streets in Tel Aviv’s business district as part of a statewide “disruption day” that began at 6:29 a.m., the moment that Hamas launched their attack on October 7, 2023.
With the aim of ending the Gaza battle, which has claimed many civilian lives and severely damaged large areas of the coastal region, US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators continued their efforts to bring about a truce.
Citing an unidentified high-ranking official source, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera News said that Cairo was “hosting Israeli and American delegations to discuss the outstanding points.”
In the midst of “intensive Egyptian meetings this week with all parties,” according to the news source published late on Saturday, mediators were in communication with Hamas.
A government spokesperson stated on Friday that there were still “gaps” with Hamas, despite Israel’s announcement that it would send a delegation to resume negotiations with Qatari mediators.
Senior Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told AFP that the latest offers from the group were “welcomed” and “passed on to the Israeli side” by US mediators.
“The onus is now on Israel,” Hamdan declared.
“No fuel” and hunger
Medics and emergency services in the region reported several more casualties in multiple strikes on Sunday as the fighting and bombardment in beleaguered Gaza continued unabated.
Paramedics reported nine fatalities in two attacks on Gaza City, while the Palestinian Red Crescent said that two children were among the six dead when a house in central Gaza was struck.
Israeli drones were reportedly firing on Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood, which has been largely evacuated and shaken by fierce fighting for almost two weeks, according to an AFP correspondent.
The armed forces of Israel
stated that its troops murdered a number of Palestinians in Shujaiya. Along with reports of fighting in adjacent Khan Yunis, the IDF said that Israeli forces had killed thirty Palestinian fighters in far-southern Rafah during the course of the previous day.
According to UN agencies, the conflict has destroyed most hospitals, uprooted practically all Gazans, and left almost 500,000 people facing “catastrophic” famine.
The Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia’s acting director, Dr. Muhammad Salha, stated that the hospital had “no fuel” due to acute shortages during Israel’s siege of Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in nearly daily cross-border gunfire.
Early on Sunday, the IDF said that 20 rockets were fired, some of which were intercepted, and air raid sirens could be heard throughout northern Israel.
