More than 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over a 24-hour period, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Friday. Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Gaza killed at least 68 Palestinians, health officials and an Associated Press journalist said, and another 24 bodies were trapped under rubble. In all, 104 Palestinians were killed over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday. The overall death toll since the Oct. 7 start of the war rose to 29,514. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh held talks with Egyptian officials about a possible cease-fire in Gaza and an exchange of hostages held by the militants for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, according to a Hamas statement Friday morning. During Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages. Roughly half of the hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. About 100 hostages remain in captivity, in addition to the bodies of 30 others who were killed on Oct. 7 or died in captivity. Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians and driven some 80% of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes. Most heeded Israeli orders to flee south, and around 1.5 million are packed into Rafah near the border with Egypt. European diplomats have ramped up calls for a cease-fire as alarm grows over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Here’s the latest:
Quick Read
- Over 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza within 24 hours, with the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reporting the overall war death toll at 29,514.
- Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh discussed a possible cease-fire and hostage exchange with Egyptian officials, following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that resulted in about 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages, with 100 still captive.
- Israeli offensives have displaced 80% of Gaza’s population, with 1.5 million people now concentrated near the Egypt border in Rafah.
- European diplomats are urging a cease-fire due to the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with Israeli airstrikes continuing in various regions including Rafah and Deir al-Balah.
- In the West Bank, an Israeli drone strike killed two Palestinians, escalating violence in the region amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
- Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide called for an end to injustices against Palestinians, highlighting the occupation and settlements as major obstacles to peace.
- Two Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon, as cross-border tensions persist with daily exchanges of fire since the Oct. 7 outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
- Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh concluded talks in Egypt about a cease-fire and hostage exchange, with international mediators preparing a new proposal for a high-level meeting in Paris amid the approaching Ramadan.
The Associated Press has the story:
104 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes as officials hold cease-fire talks
Newslooks- DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — (AP)
Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Gaza killed at least 68 Palestinians, health officials and an Associated Press journalist said, and another 24 bodies were trapped under rubble.
In all, 104 Palestinians were killed over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday. The overall death toll since the Oct. 7 start of the war rose to 29,514. Though the count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, the ministry has said women and children account for about two-thirds of those killed.
The strikes were reported in the southern city of Rafah, the central town of Deir al-Balah and the refugee camp of Nuseirat.
In Deir al-Balah, bodies draped in white or black burial shrouds were laid out in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, as relatives wept nearby. The bodies were later collected by relatives and taken for burial after brief prayers.
Outside the hospital, a man held the body of an infant killed in one of the strikes.
2 DEAD IN ISRAELI DRONE STRIKE ON A CAR IN THE OCCUPIED WEST BANK
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian man wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the occupied West Bank died of his injuries, bringing the number of people killed in the attack to two.
The two men, their bodies wrapped in the flags of the militant group Islamic Jihad, were buried Friday in the Jenin refugee camp.
The Israeli military said one of those killed, identified as Yasser Hanoun, was about to carry out a shooting attack when the strike hit his car late Thursday. It alleged that Hanoun was previously involved in several shooting attacks targeting Israeli settlements and army posts.
Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Since then, about 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, most as part of near-daily arrest raids by troops searching for suspected militants.
NORWAY’S FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR A STOP TO INJUSTICES AGAINST PALESTINIANS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Friday that Israel’s occupation and the Israeli settlements “are the biggest obstacles to a two-state solution, which is the only solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.”
In a comment to Norway’s submission to the International Court of Justice, Barth Eide said “the injustice to which the Palestinians are subjected must stop.”
He added that “while the eyes of the world are focused on the horrific war in Gaza, the situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is also very serious.”
2 HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS ARE KILLED IN AN ISRAELI STRIKE ON A SOUTHERN BORDER VILLAGE IN LEBANON
BEIRUT — The paramedics arm of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says two of its members were killed in an Israeli strike on a southern border village early Friday.
The Islamic Health Society identified the two as Hussein Khalil and Mohammed Ismail, saying they were killed when the group’s office in the village of Blida was directly hit, a day after an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Rumman killed two members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, including a local official who was identified as Hassan Saleh.
Hezbollah later said it retaliated the attack on Blida by launching two explosive drones at an Israeli army post in the northern town of Kiryat Shmona, claiming it scored direct hits.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, the Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli troops. Since then, nearly 200 Hezbollah fighters and at least 40 civilians have been killed.
HAMAS LEADER LEAVES EGYPT AFTER HOLDING TALKS WITH EGYPTIAN OFFICIALS OVER A POSSIBLE CEASE-FIRE
BEIRUT — Hamas says its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has left Egypt after holding talks with Egyptian officials about a possible cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of hostages held by the militants for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The statement released early Friday by Hamas did not say whether Haniyeh’s talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel about ways of ending the war, a hostage deal and the flow of aid to Gaza were successful or led to a breakthrough.
The talks in Cairo came ahead of a high-level meeting expected over the weekend in Paris, where international mediators will present a new proposal. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been struggling for weeks to find a formula that could halt Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza, but now face an unofficial deadline as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches.
Israel seeks a phased deal, including a temporary pause in fighting in exchange for the release of some of the roughly 100 hostages still held by militants since the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is crushed.
Hamas initially demanded to end the war, now in its fifth month, before hostages can be released. Hamas has said that it would release the Israeli hostages in return for the all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel rejected that demand, and mediators have been working on a new deal.
