Israeli airstrikes push up Gaza death toll amid new truce push

Israel has carried out airstrikes on dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, it said on Friday, in attacks that Palestinian health authorities said had killed more than 110 people in two days.

The surge in operations and casualties comes amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and return Israeli hostages before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Israeli mediators were dispatched to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, which is helping to broker the talks, urged Hamas to agree to a deal. Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement but it was unclear how close the two sides were.

The Gaza health ministry said more than 40 people were killed on Friday after 71 were killed a day earlier including in Al-Mawasi, an area in central Gaza previously declared a humanitarian safe zone by Israeli authorities.

The Israeli military said it had hit around 40 Hamas gathering points as well as command and control centres. It said it had taken numerous measures to reduce the risk of harming civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.

It accused Hamas, the Islamist movement that formerly controlled Gaza, of placing fighters in civilian areas including buildings formerly used as schools, where it said troops had found a number of weapons. Hamas rejects accusations it deliberately uses the civilian population to shield fighters.

On Friday, the military told civilians in the area of al-Bureij in central Gaza to evacuate ahead of an operation it ordered following rocket attacks from the area. It said residents should move to the humanitarian zone for their own safety.

Elsewhere, Israeli troops have been battling Hamas fighters holding out in towns around the northern end of the enclave for the past month and continued to find weapons stores and underground infrastructure, the military said.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants stormed border communities from Gaza, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Its military campaign, with the stated goal of eradicating Hamas, has levelled swathes of the enclave, driving most people from their homes, and has killed 45,658 Palestinians according to the Gaza health ministry.

Severe winter weather has caused bitter hardship to hundreds of thousands who are sheltering in makeshift tent encampments.

STALLED DIPLOMACY

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been trying to mediate a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release for a year with no success and are making another push this month before Trump's inauguration.

Ceasefire efforts have continually stumbled on a fundamental disagreement over how to end the conflict. Hamas says it will accept an agreement and release the hostages only if Israel commits to ending the war. Israel says it will agree to stop fighting only once Hamas is destroyed.

On Friday, Hamas said it wanted "a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip" and the return of displaced people to their homes in all areas of the enclave.

U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for a ceasefire agreement. Trump has said that if there is not a deal to release the hostages before his inauguration, "all hell is going to break out".

Israel's military has entered nearly every part of Gaza but is still fighting Hamas militants who are waging guerrilla warfare across the ruins of the tiny enclave.

Over the autumn, Israel's military resumed intense combat in northern Gaza, which it has repeatedly told all civilians to leave, while still continuing heavy strikes in the south.

In late December single-day death tolls announced by the Gaza health ministry included 48 on Dec. 28, 58 on Dec. 22 and 77 on Dec. 20. The toll rose by 1,124 in December, compared to 1,170 in November and 1,621 in October according to ministry figures.

Israel's military said strikes on Thursday targeted Hamas militants in the southern city of Khan Younis and the Mawasi camp for displaced people, which it designates as a humanitarian zone.

Asked about Thursday's reported death toll, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said it followed international law in waging the war in Gaza and that it took "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm".

Reuters