The US, joined by Arab mediators, sought yesterday to conclude an agreement between Israel and Hamas to halt the 14-month-old war in the Gaza Strip where medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight.
A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said that mediators had narrowed gaps on most of the agreement’s clauses. He said Israel had introduced conditions which Hamas rejected but would not elaborate.
On Tuesday, sources close to the talks in Cairo said an agreement could be signed in coming days on a ceasefire and a release of hostages held in Gaza in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Medics said an Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people in a house in the northern town of Beit Lahiya while six were killed in separate air strikes in Gaza City, Nuseirat camp in central areas, and Rafah near the border with Egypt.
In Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said four people were killed in an air strike on a house.
Israeli forces have operated in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya as well as the nearby Jabalia camp since October.
Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out acts of “ethnic cleansing” to depopulate the northern edge of the enclave to create a buffer zone.
Yesterday, the Israeli military said it struck a number of Hamas fighters planning an imminent attack against Israeli forces operating in Jabalia.
Later, Muhammad Saleh, director of Al Awda Hospital in Jabalia, said Israeli shelling in the vicinity damaged the facility, wounding seven medics and one patient inside the hospital.
In the Central Gaza camp of Bureij, Palestinian families began leaving some districts after the army posted new evacuation orders on X and in written and audio messages to mobile phones of some of the population there, citing new firing of rockets by Palestinian fighters from the area.
The US administration, joined by mediators from Egypt and Qatar, has made intensive efforts in recent days to advance the talks before President Joe Biden leaves office next month.
In Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met Adam Boehler, US President-elect Donald Trump’s designated envoy for hostage affairs. Trump has threatened that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas does not release its hostages by January 20, the day Trump returns to the White House.
CIA Director William Burns was due in Doha for talks with Qatari Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on bridging remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, other knowledgeable sources said.
Israeli negotiators were in Doha on Monday looking to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas on a deal Biden outlined in May.
There have been repeated rounds of talks over the past year, all of which have failed, with Israel insisting on retaining a military presence in Gaza and Hamas refusing to release hostages until the troops pulled out.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Israelis hindered two additional missions planned to bring essential supplies to Gaza between the 1st and 16th of this month.
It said UN-led aid missions to the North Gaza governorate continue to be ‘overwhelmingly denied, especially those seeking to reach the besieged areas in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and parts of Jabalya.’ This adds to the 38 missions they blocked at the start of December.
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