34 people were killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes, according to health officials.
The strikes began late Friday and continued till Saturday morning. The dead included 12 people killed at the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, where displaced people were sheltering, and eight more in nearby apartments, according to staff at Shifa Hospital where the bodies were taken. Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, the hospital reported.
The attacks come as US President Donald Trump said there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, he said, “We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”
Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, is expected to arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza’s ceasefire, as reported by news agency AP.
Negotiations have been on and off since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March and continued its military campaign in Gaza.
So far, the war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says more than half of the dead are women and children.
Families of Israeli hostages hope Trump’s role in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran will increase pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gained strong public support because of the conflict with Iran.
Hamas has said it is willing to free all hostages in exchange for an end to the war. But Netanyahu insists the war will only end if Hamas is disarmed and its leaders are exiled, conditions Hamas has rejected.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza are enduring severe shortages of food and other essentials. After blocking all food for two and a half months, Israel has allowed only limited supplies into the territory since mid-May.
United Nations efforts to distribute food have been disrupted by armed gangs looting trucks and by desperate crowds unloading supplies from convoys.
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