Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 22 people, according to Palestinian medics, as the US ramps up efforts to reach a ceasefire toe nd the conflict before Joe Biden leaves othe White House.
An airstrike killed at least 10 people in a multi-storey house in Sheikh Radwan, Gaza City, on Wednesday, while another killed five in the nearby Zeitoun suburb, medics said.
In Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering, an Israeli airstrike killed three other people, they added.
Meanwhile, another airstrike killed four people in Jabalia in northern Gaza, where the army has been operating for more than three weeks.
As Israel continued its bombardments, the United States, Qatar and Egypt were making intensive efforts to reach a ceasefire deal, with one source close to the talks saying this was the most serious attempt to reach a deal so far.
Mr Biden’s outgoing administration has called for a final push for a truce, and many in the region view president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January as an unofficial deadline.
“Things are better than ever before, but there is no deal yet,” the source told Reuters. But with the clock ticking, both sides accuse the other of blocking a deal by adhering to conditions that have torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Nearly 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeal’s retaliatory offensive.
On Tuesday, Hamas stood by its demand that it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza.
On Tuesday, Israeli military strikes killed at least 24 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, medics said, with two airstrikes hitting tent encampments in Mawasi, to the west of the southern city of Khan Younis, killing 18 people.
The dead included several women and children. There was no comment by the Israeli military on those incidents.
Most of the Gaza’s 2.2 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
On Wednesday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said heavy rains and flooding had left families living in damaged tents with up to 30 cm of water in them, “clinging on to survival without even the most basic necessities, such as blankets”.
