The United States, joined by Arab mediators, sought an agreement between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday to halt the 14-month war in the Gaza Strip, where doctors said at least 20 Palestinians had been killed overnight in Israeli attacks.
A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said Wednesday that mediators had closed loopholes on most of the deal's clauses. He said Israel had introduced conditions that Hamas rejected but would not elaborate on.
On Tuesday, sources close to the talks in Cairo said an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel could be signed in the coming days.
“We need an agreement signed in Cairo between Hamas and the government of Israel to give us hope of ending this war,” Mahmoud Totah, 35, told CBC News in Khan Younis.
“The situation in Gaza is very bad. There is no light, electricity or food,” he added.
“The Palestinian people cannot breathe.”
Talks aimed at brokering a ceasefire and the release of hostages between Israel and Hamas have resumed in Cairo, with sources close to the negotiations saying an agreement could be signed in the coming days. Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip express hope that this round of talks will end the war and allow life to resume.
Medics say an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in a house in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, and six people were killed in separate airstrikes in Gaza City, the Nuseirat camp in central areas and Rafah near the Egyptian border.
In Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, doctors said four people were killed in an airstrike on a house. An Israeli army spokesman had no immediate comment.
Israeli forces have been operating since October in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, as well as the nearby Jabalia camp, as part of a campaign that the military says is aimed at preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping.
Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out acts of “ethnic cleansing” aimed at depopulating the northern end of the enclave and creating a buffer zone. Israel denies this.
Hamas does not disclose its casualties, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health does not distinguish the daily death toll between combatants and non-combatants.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it struck a group of Hamas fighters planning an imminent attack on Israeli forces operating in Jabalia.
Later Wednesday, Muhammad Salih, director of Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, said Israeli shelling in the area damaged the facility, wounding seven doctors and one patient at the hospital.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
In Gaza's central Bureij camp, Palestinian families began leaving some neighborhoods after the army sent new evacuation orders to
In a new report, Amnesty International has accused the state of Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians during the Gaza war, which Israel has vehemently denied, saying it abides by international law.
The ceasefire is gaining momentum
The U.S. administration, joined by mediators from Egypt and Qatar, accomplished this intense efforts in recent days to accelerate talks before US President Joe Biden leaves office next month.
In Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Adam Boehler, US President-elect Donald Trump's hostage envoy. Trump threatened that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas does not release its hostages by January 20, the day Trump returns to the White House.
Other sources reported that CIA Director William Burns arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday for talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani about bridging remaining differences between Israel and Hamas. The CIA declined to comment.
Israeli negotiators were in Doha on Monday, looking to fill gaps between Israel and Hamas over the deal outlined by Biden in May.
More than 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza has descended into lawlessness, with aid groups saying the collapse threatens the survival of up to two million people.
There have been repeated rounds of talks over the past year, but all have ended in failure, with Israel insisting on maintaining a military presence in Gaza and Hamas refusing to release the hostages until troops withdraw.
The Gaza War was sparked by a Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel says the attack left approximately 1,200 people dead and approximately 240 hostages taken back to Gaza.
Gaza's Health Ministry says the Israeli campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of its 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins.
In a speech in Khan Younis, 20-year-old Dima Naseer said she was looking forward to a ceasefire and a “happy life and a new life.”
Maram Al-Za'anin, 33, said she hoped the ceasefire would “end the suffering.”
“I think Hamas should think carefully this time.”