[ad_1]
August 24, 2024. The reported deaths of health workers in Gaza came as delegations were meeting in Egypt for ceasefire talks, The Associated Press and The Guardian reported in a press release.
Repeated Israeli air strikes killed at least three dozen Palestinians in southern Gaza, health workers said on Saturday, as officials including a Hamas delegation were holding ceasefire talks in Egypt.
According to Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis’s home was hit by an airstrike, killing 11 family members, including two children.
The hospital received 33 bodies from three attacks in and around the city. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it received three bodies from another attack.
A Palestinian man walks through the rubble and inspects the damage in the Hamad town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas sends delegation to Cairo peace talks but rules out direct involvement
Rescuers also found 16 bodies in the Hamad town area of Khan Yunis after the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, and 10 bodies in a residential area west of Khan Yunis and a residential area south of Rafah. The circumstances of their deaths were unclear, but the areas have been shelled by Israeli forces several times over the past week. AP reporters counted the bodies.
Some residents returned to Hamad town, treading over rubble as they walked between destroyed apartment buildings. An entire wall of one multi-story building was gone, as residents searched for rooms amid the rubble.
“There’s nothing, no apartment, no furniture, no house, just destruction,” said one woman, Nefine Huddle. “We are slowly dying. You know, if they had fired a mercy bullet, it would have been better than what happened to us.”
The Israeli army announced on Saturday the deaths of three reserve officers killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip the previous day.
The military said two officers, two major generals and a lieutenant colonel, were killed in central Gaza, but gave no further details.
In recent weeks, Israeli troops have engaged in fierce fighting with Palestinian militants in central Gaza, particularly in the Deir al-Balah area.
More than 100 hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel were released during a ceasefire last year, but Hamas is believed to still be holding about 110 hostages, of whom Israeli authorities estimate about a third are dead.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, without distinguishing between civilians and fighters. The ministry said on Saturday that 69 people had been taken to hospitals in the region dead and 212 wounded in the past 24 hours.
Experts met on Saturday to discuss technical issues ahead of high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday on a possible ceasefire brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. CIA Director William Burns, Qatar’s foreign minister and Egypt’s spy chief met in Cairo on Saturday afternoon, according to an Egyptian official with direct knowledge of the talks.
Mahmoud Merdawy, a senior Hamas official, told The Associated Press that a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday to meet with Egyptian and Qatari officials. He stressed that Hamas would not directly participate in Sunday’s talks but would be informed by Egypt and Qatar.
[ad_2]
Source link
