JERUSALEM/CAIRO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Monday for a final push for a Gaza ceasefire before President Joe Biden leaves office, after a Hamas official told Reuters the group had cleared a list of 34 hostages as first to go free under a truce.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining,” Blinken told a news conference in South Korea, when asked whether a ceasefire deal was close.
Israel has sent a team of mid-ranking officials to Qatar for talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Some Arabic media reports said David Barnea, the head of Mossad, who has been leading negotiations, was expected to join them. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not comment.
It remains unclear how close the two sides remain, with some signs of movement but little indication of a shift in some of the key demands that have so far blocked any truce for more than a year.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages held by Hamas were not freed before his inauguration on Jan. 20, now viewed in the region as an unofficial deadline for a truce deal.
According to Gaza health officials, nearly 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza. The assault was launched after Hamas fighters stormed Israeli territory in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held in Gaza, and Hamas says it will not free them without an agreement that ends the war with Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will not halt its assault until Hamas is dismantled as a military and governing power and all hostages go free.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group had cleared a list submitted by Israel of 34 hostages who could be freed in the initial phase of a truce. The list provided by the official included female soldiers, plus elderly, female and minor-aged civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the list had been given by Israel to Qatari mediators as far back as July, and Israel had so far received no confirmation or comment from Hamas about whether the hostages on it were alive.
“Israel will continue to act relentlessly for the return of all our hostages,” it said in a statement.
Baby dies of cold
Israeli forces, which have intensified their operations in recent weeks, continued bombardments across the enclave, killing at least 48 people and wounding 75 over the past 24 hours, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Harsh winter weather continued to exact a toll on the hundreds of thousands displaced into makeshift shelters, with officials saying a 35-day-old baby had died of exposure, at least the eighth victim of the cold in the past two weeks.
Officials from Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip said an Israeli airstrike at a school compound sheltering displaced families had wounded at least 40 people.
While Israel’s military says Hamas has largely been destroyed as an organized military force, its fighters continue to hold out in the rubble of Gaza, which has been largely reduced to wasteland by the months of bombardment.
On Monday, three rockets were fired from Gaza, one of which hit a building in the nearby Israeli city of Sderot without casing casualties, Israeli police said.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a separate Palestinian territory where violence has also surged since the start of the Gaza war, gunmen killed three Israelis and wounded several others when they opened fire on a car and bus near the Israeli settlement of Kedumim.
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Blinken calls for push to get Gaza truce deal over ‘finish line’
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Blinken calls for push to get Gaza truce deal over ‘finish line’
- “We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining,” Blinken told a news conference in South Korea
- Israel has sent a team of mid-ranking officials to Qatar for talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators
Gaza health officials say strikes kill 21 after Israel says shots wounded officer
GAZA CITY: Gazan health officials said Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed 21 people in the Palestinian territory, with Israel’s military saying it struck after gunfire targeting its troops wounded an officer.
Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.
The latest bloodshed came days after Israel partly reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only exit for Gazans that does not pass through Israel.
The health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that 21 people were killed in a series of strikes, with at least 38 others wounded, updating an earlier figure given by the territory’s civil defense agency.
Among the dead were three children, said the agency, which operates as a rescue force under the Hamas authority.
“We were sleeping when suddenly shells and gunfire rained down on us,” said Abu Mohammed Haboush, whose son was killed.
“Young children were martyred, my son and my nephew were among the dead. We lost many young men,” he said, adding that he and his family were living far away from the so-called “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces are stationed.
AFP images showed mourners offering prayers in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were laid out.
An AFP photograph showed a relative holding a body of a child wrapped in a shroud at the hospital as relatives gathered around him.
Shortage of medical aid
Three bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital after Israeli strikes hit homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Khan Yunis area, the civil defense agency said.
Fourteen more bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, its director Mohamed Abu Salmiya said in a statement.
“We also received dozens of wounded. The situation is extremely difficult in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” Abu Salmiya said.
Israel scrutinizes all aid into besieged Gaza, a tiny coastal territory surrounded by fences, walls and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli military said it had launched strikes after “terrorists opened fire on troops” Wednesday, seriously wounding an officer, adding that it considers the incident a violation of the ceasefire.
It said the troops came under attack near the “Yellow Line,” without specifying which side of the line the troops were on.
The ceasefire took effect after two years of war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Following what was reportedly US pressure, Israel allowed the opening of the Rafah crossing, but limited passage to patients and their travel companions.
Sick and wounded Gazans have begun crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment since Monday.
On Tuesday, 45 people crossed into Egypt and 42 entered the territory, a source at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told AFP.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, those meant to enter during the day on Tuesday arrived in Gaza through Rafah in a large bus, an AFP journalist reported.
‘My homeland’
Relatives of those returning from Egypt screamed in joy, hugging and crying.
“I am so happy to be back with my husband, my children, my family, my loved ones, and of course, my homeland,” Fariza Barabakh, who returned that day, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, thank God. What can I say? My two young children didn’t recognize me, but thank God. I hope it will be alright,” Yusef Abu Fahma, another returnee, told AFP.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed over the same period.
Saturday was among the deadliest days, with the civil defense agency reporting at least 32 people killed in Israeli attacks, which the military said were in response to a Hamas ceasefire violation.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.
The latest bloodshed came days after Israel partly reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only exit for Gazans that does not pass through Israel.
The health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that 21 people were killed in a series of strikes, with at least 38 others wounded, updating an earlier figure given by the territory’s civil defense agency.
Among the dead were three children, said the agency, which operates as a rescue force under the Hamas authority.
“We were sleeping when suddenly shells and gunfire rained down on us,” said Abu Mohammed Haboush, whose son was killed.
“Young children were martyred, my son and my nephew were among the dead. We lost many young men,” he said, adding that he and his family were living far away from the so-called “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces are stationed.
AFP images showed mourners offering prayers in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were laid out.
An AFP photograph showed a relative holding a body of a child wrapped in a shroud at the hospital as relatives gathered around him.
Shortage of medical aid
Three bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital after Israeli strikes hit homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Khan Yunis area, the civil defense agency said.
Fourteen more bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, its director Mohamed Abu Salmiya said in a statement.
“We also received dozens of wounded. The situation is extremely difficult in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” Abu Salmiya said.
Israel scrutinizes all aid into besieged Gaza, a tiny coastal territory surrounded by fences, walls and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli military said it had launched strikes after “terrorists opened fire on troops” Wednesday, seriously wounding an officer, adding that it considers the incident a violation of the ceasefire.
It said the troops came under attack near the “Yellow Line,” without specifying which side of the line the troops were on.
The ceasefire took effect after two years of war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Following what was reportedly US pressure, Israel allowed the opening of the Rafah crossing, but limited passage to patients and their travel companions.
Sick and wounded Gazans have begun crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment since Monday.
On Tuesday, 45 people crossed into Egypt and 42 entered the territory, a source at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told AFP.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, those meant to enter during the day on Tuesday arrived in Gaza through Rafah in a large bus, an AFP journalist reported.
‘My homeland’
Relatives of those returning from Egypt screamed in joy, hugging and crying.
“I am so happy to be back with my husband, my children, my family, my loved ones, and of course, my homeland,” Fariza Barabakh, who returned that day, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, thank God. What can I say? My two young children didn’t recognize me, but thank God. I hope it will be alright,” Yusef Abu Fahma, another returnee, told AFP.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed over the same period.
Saturday was among the deadliest days, with the civil defense agency reporting at least 32 people killed in Israeli attacks, which the military said were in response to a Hamas ceasefire violation.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
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