Israel bombs south Gaza as Hamas officials due in Cairo for truce talks
GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - Israel pounded south and central Gaza on Friday as Egypt was to host a high-level Hamas delegation for talks to try and end the nearly 12-week war that has devastated the besieged Palestinian territory.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 21,507 people have been martyred in the Palestinian territory since war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago. The figure includes 187 fatalities over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said. It added that 55,915 people have been wounded in Gaza during the fighting.
The Israeli military said its forces "are extending operation in Khan Yunis" in the coastal territory's south, and had "eliminated dozens of terrorists" across Gaza over the past 24 hours. AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing over Rafah, near Egypt, following fresh strikes early Friday. Israeli shelling near Al-Amal in Khan Yunis martyred 41 people over the past two days, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Thursday.
The casualties in repeated Israeli strikes near the facility include "displaced persons seeking shelter", it said.
The UN humanitarian office said an estimated 100,000 more displaced people had arrived in the already-teeming southern border city of Rafah in recent days following the intensification of fighting around Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis.
At Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, Palestinians gathered to identify loved ones killed in strikes. Suhair Nasser was holding the bodies of her twin children, who she said in tears were killed in Israeli bombardment on Thursday. "The house was bombed and the debris fell on the kids on December 28 -- their birthday."
The fighting left much of Gaza's north in ruins, while the battlefront has shifted ever further to the south and raised tensions across the Middle East. Sources close to Hamas say Egypt's three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately an end to the war.
Little food, 'really expensive'
Hamas's military wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said Friday it launched a fresh barrage of rockets at southern Israel. Israel has repeatedly said that one of the chief goals of the war is the return of the 129 hostages it says remain in Gaza. On Thursday, an Israeli kibbutz community said one of its residents, US-Israeli Judith Weinstein Haggai, 70, who was thought to be the oldest woman held captive had in fact died in the October 7 attack and her body held by militants.
US President Joe Biden said he was "devastated" by the news. The UN says more than 80 percent of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been driven from their homes. Many now live in cramped shelters in the tiny territory or in makeshift tents around Rafah. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 308 people seeking shelter in their facilities have been killed during the war.
