Wat-Not Staff
Officials said on Saturday that at least 3 dozen Palestinians have died as a result of several Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip, even as plans for high-level cease-fire negotiations in the Egyptian capital advanced.
Israeli Strikes claiming lives
11 members of the same family, including two children, were among the deceased when an Israeli aircraft struck their Khan Younis home early on Saturday, according to Nasser Hospital, where the injured and dead were transported.
33 people who died in three different strikes in and around Khan Younis were brought to the hospital. Three more bodies from an early Saturday strike have been brought to the city’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, according to reports.
According to Nasser Hospital, a strike on a road south of Khan Younis claimed the lives of seventeen more people, including bystanders and tuk-tuk passengers. At least five individuals were killed in another attack that occurred in a tuk-tuk east of Khan Younis.
The Israeli army stated that it was investigating the reports but did not provide a statement at that time. Ten more people were found dead by first responders in a residential block west of Khan Younis. The hospital stated that although the reasons surrounding their deaths were not immediately obvious, the area had been routinely bombed by the Israeli military throughout the previous week.
War in Gaza and talks of ceasefire
Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a surprise attack on Israel by Hamas and other terrorists on October 7, sparking the start of the Gaza War. Approximately one-third of the approximately 110 hostages that Hamas is said to be holding are thought to be dead, according to estimations from Israeli police. More than 100 hostages were freed during a cease-fire last year.
More than forty thousand Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s counteroffensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its tally. In addition, it has resulted in extensive damage and the mass exodus of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants.
In order to emphasize the necessity of a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement, Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. On Friday, he also spoke with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt about the latest events.
The Philadelphi corridor, which runs parallel to Gaza’s border with Egypt, and the Netzarim east-west corridor, which spans the region, have been important points of contention.
Although Netanyahu has maintained that Israel must continue to maintain control over the passageways, Hamas is calling for the total departure of Israeli forces from Gaza. Bassem Naim, a political spokesman for Hamas, stated last week that Netanyahu’s demands, including maintaining Israeli forces’ control over the Philadelphia and Netzarim corridors, had been incorporated into the working proposal at the time.
Prior to the negotiations on Sunday, Merdawy stated that Hamas was still in favor of the previous plan, which called for the complete evacuation of Israeli forces from Gaza.
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