Written by Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli military strikes in the Palestinian Gaza Strip killed at least 61 people in a 24-hour period, local health officials said on Saturday, as Israeli forces battled Hamas-led militants in the area.
Eleven months into the war, many negotiating bodies have so far failed to reach an agreement to end the war and release Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza and many Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
An Israeli airstrike on the Halima al-Sa'diyya school center which is a refugee shelter in the Jabalia camp killed at least eight people and wounded 15, health officials said.
The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at a Hamas compound inside the area. He accused Hamas of repeatedly exploiting civilians and public infrastructure for military purposes, allegations that Hamas denies.
Another five people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City.
The armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah said they fought Israeli forces in Gaza City, the central and southern areas with rockets and anti-tank bombs, and in some cases detonated bombs to target tanks and other military vehicles. .
The two warring sides continued to blame each other for the failure of mediators, including Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to establish a ceasefire agreement. The US is preparing to present a new proposal, but the prospects for success appear dim as the gaps between the parties remain wide.
CIA Director William Burns, the US's chief negotiator, told an event in London that a more detailed proposal would be made in the coming days.
STOP THE FIGHT LET THE VACCINES CONTINUE
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was up to Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which ruled Gaza before the war and was responsible for the October 7 massacre in Israel that caused it, to reach an agreement. to reach an agreement.
On Saturday, Hamas chief Hossam Badran said the group did not make new demands and remained committed to the July 2 proposal put forward by the United States, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of introducing new conditions that would not end the war.
Netanyahu says that it is Hamas that presents unacceptable conditions.
Despite this incident, the United Nations, in collaboration with local health authorities, has launched a campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza after its first case of polio in 25 years. A pause in the fighting allowed the campaign to continue.
UN officials said they are making progress, having reached more than half of the children in need of drops in the first two phases in the southern and central Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, the operation will move to the north of the Gaza Strip. A second round of vaccination will be required four weeks after the first.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on Oct. 7 when the group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and abducting about 250 people, according to Israeli figures.
Israel's subsequent offensive in the area has killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, triggering a famine and leading to accusations of genocide at the World Court, which Israel denies.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
