US and Arab mediators have made some headway in their efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, according to a Reuters report, citing Palestinian sources close to the negotiations.
While talks continued in Qatar, Palestinian medics said the Israeli military conducted airstrikes across the enclave, resulting in at least 23 deaths on Thursday, bringing the total number of fatalities over the past 24 hours to 76.
Qatar, the US, and Egypt are making significant efforts to broker a deal aimed at halting the 15-month conflict and securing the release of hostages held by Hamas before President Joe Biden leaves office.
President-elect Donald Trump has warned that there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by his inauguration on January 20.
On Thursday, a Palestinian official involved in the mediation said while a deal has not yet been reached, the ongoing discussions represent the most serious attempt to date.
“There are extensive negotiations, mediators and negotiators are talking about every word and every detail. There is a breakthrough when it comes to narrowing old existing gaps but there is no deal yet,” Reuters quoted the official as saying, without giving further details.
On Tuesday, Israel said it was fully committed to reaching an accord to return hostages but faces obstruction from Hamas.
The two sides have been at an impasse for a year over two key issues. Hamas has said it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
Severe humanitarian crisis
On Thursday, the death toll from Israel’s military strikes included eight Palestinians killed in a house in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps. Nine others, including a father and his three children, died in two airstrikes on two houses in central Gaza, health officials said.
Dozens of people arrived at the hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza to mourn their dead relatives, and take their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds, to graves.
“There is no safety in the country, at all, not for a child, a woman, an old person, not for stones or trees, animals or birds or anything. Everyone is targeted, without prior warning,” resident Adel Al-Mansi told Reuters.
Later on Thursday, six Palestinians were killed in two separate airstrikes, four of them at a school sheltering displaced families near Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said.
There was no Israeli military comment on Thursday’s incidents.
In an address delivered by an aide, Pope Francis stepped up his recent criticisms of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation “very serious and shameful.”
“We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit.”
There was no comment from Israel on the pontiff’s comments.
Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza.
More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the territory’s 2.1 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said troops had recovered the body of Israeli Bedouin hostage Youssef Al-Ziyadna, along with evidence that was still being examined suggesting his son Hamza, taken on the same day, may also be dead.
With inputs from agencies