Dozens of Israeli attacks hit the Gaza Strip over the weekend as Israeli and Hamas officials continued indirect ceasefire talks through mediators in Qatar.
The Israeli army said on Sunday that it had hit more than 100 targets across the enclave over the weekend, including sites from which militants had fired at least four projectiles into Israeli territory on Friday and Saturday. It said the strikes killed Hamas militants and that the military took measures to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. The claims could not be independently verified.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 88 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours. The ministry’s data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Gaza Civil Defense, an emergency services agency, said its crews responded Sunday to several airstrikes on families’ homes in which several people were killed and wounded.
Pressure has mounted on both sides to reach a ceasefire agreement that includes the release of hostages held in Gaza before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office on January 20. Hamas and Israel have both said they will send delegations to the region. The capital of Qatar, Doha, met with mediators in recent days.
The Israeli delegation remained in Doha over the weekend, according to an Israeli person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authorization to publicly discuss the secret talks. The person said discussions in Doha were progressing slowly and aimed at reaching a limited agreement that would see a temporary suspension of fighting and the release of some Israeli hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Reflecting the constant divide between the sides, at least in their public positions, Hamas said in a statement on Friday that the current round of talks will focus on an agreement leading to a comprehensive ceasefire and on details for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Israel. the Gaza Strip. Israel is not committed to ending the war, an official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy said last week.
Around 100 hostages are still held in Gaza of the 250 people taken captive during the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023 that sparked the war. At least a third of them are presumed dead.
A week-long truce in November 2023 allowed the release of 105 hostages, but subsequent efforts to reach a ceasefire faltered due to gaps in the two sides’ demands. Each side blames the other for the failure to reach an agreement.
Israeli officials recently said they believe Hamas is rebuilding its forces in Gaza. And it appears the group is recruiting new fighters faster than Israel can eliminate them.
Security officials reportedly told an Israeli parliamentary committee last week that Hamas has up to 19,000 fighters, including around 9,000 in organized units. Before the war, Israel estimated that Hamas had around 25,000 fighters, although Hamas has never confirmed that figure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in November that the Israeli army had killed nearly 20,000 fighters.
In total, more than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
And as hopes for a ceasefire agreement, albeit a limited one, between Israel and Hamas rise again, Palestinians and human rights organizations say the humanitarian situation in Gaza is becoming even more desperate.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday that overnight Israeli airstrikes near Al-Amal Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis caused significant damage to several hospital facilities and killed one person.
Last week, Israeli forces stormed the last remaining major hospital in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan, and forced staff and patients to evacuate. The Israeli army said Kamal Adwan was a Hamas stronghold and that it was carrying out “targeted operations” in the area.
The hospital has been the main provider of medical care in the northernmost part of Gaza during a months-long offensive by the Israeli army against what it says is a resurgent Hamas.
The World Health Organization said the raid on Kamal Adwan “knocked out the last major health facility in northern Gaza” and that the remaining patients, caregivers and health workers had been transferred to the Indonesian hospital.
But on Sunday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza was no longer providing services to patients or the wounded, leaving the northern part of the enclave without functioning hospitals amid near-constant shelling.
Aaron Boxerman contributed to this report.