Palestinians mourn next to the bodies of members of their family who were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a building in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City, in the central Gaza Strip. AFP
Two houses were struck in Gaza City, killing 20 people and wounding 25 others, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Shifa Hospital.
In southern Gaza, 18 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Muwasi, a coastal area where thousands of displaced Palestinians live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis told the Associated Press. The dead included members of two families, they said.
Those killed in the latest attacks included 29 civilians who were waiting for humanitarian aid, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
“My brother, his wife, his four children, my cousin’s son and his daughter... eight people are gone,” said Saqer Abu Al-Kheir, as mourners gathered on the sand for prayers and burials.
Israel’s military did not comment on the individual strikes but said it had struck 130 targets in Gaza in the past day.
The strikes came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to travel to Washington for talks at the White House aimed at advancing ceasefire efforts.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who is due to meet Netanyahu on Monday, has proposed a 60-day ceasefire that would include the partial release of captives held by Hamas in exchange for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The proposal, which Israel says it has agreed to, also envisions further negotiations to end the 21-month-old war on the Gaza Strip.
However, ahead of indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Netanyahu’s office said the group was seeking “unacceptable” changes to the U.S. plan.
Hamas, which gave a “positive” response to the plan on Friday, is demanding guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza — demands Israel has rejected.
Israel's relentless bombardment and complete blockade have created dire humanitarian conditions for more than two million people in Gaza.
Karima al-Ras, from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said, “We hope that a truce will be announced” to allow more aid in.
“People are dying for flour,” she said.
A U.S. and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took control of food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel allowed a limited flow of aid deliveries through the organization.
However, UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation, citing concerns that it serves Israeli military objectives.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution points.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 57,418 people in the territory, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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