[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

UN reports 798 deaths near Gaza aid hubs in six weeks

The UN rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near convoys run by other relief groups. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to ge

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UN reports 798 deaths near Gaza aid hubs in six weeks

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 11, 2025 21:14
Updated :
Jul 11, 2025 21:14

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, Jul 10, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Amir Cohen

The UN rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near convoys run by other relief groups.

The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians trying to reach the GHF’s aid hubs in zones where Israeli forces operate, the United Nations has called its aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

“(From May 27) up until the seventh of July, we’ve recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,” UN rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, told Reuters the UN figures were “false and misleading”. It denies that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites.

“The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid site have been linked to UN convoys,” a GHF spokesperson said.

“Ultimately, the solution is more aid. If the UN (and) other humanitarian groups would collaborate with us, we could end or significantly reduce these violent incidents”.

The Israeli army told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimise friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.

GUNSHOT WOUNDS

The OHCHR said it based its figures on sources such as information from hospitals in Gaza, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground.

Most of the injuries to Palestinians in the vicinity of aid distribution hubs recorded by the OHCHR since May 27 were gunshot wounds, Shamdasani said.

“We’ve raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food,” she said.

After the GHF assertion that the OHCHR figures are false and misleading, Shamdasani said: “It is not helpful to issue blanket dismissals of our concerns - what is needed is investigations into why people are being killed while trying to access aid”.

Israel has said its forces operate near the relief aid sites to prevent supplies from falling into the hands of militants it has been fighting in the Gaza war triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct 7, 2023.

The GHF said on Friday it had delivered more than 70 million meals to Gaza Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by “hungry civilian communities”.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies 21 months into Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, during which much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble and most of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strike kills children near Gaza clinic with no immediate truce in sight

An Israeli airstrike hit Palestinians near a medical centre in Gaza on Thursday, killing 10 children and six adults, local health authorities said, as ceasefire talks dragged on with no immediate deal expected. Verified video footage from the strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip showe

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Israeli strike kills children near Gaza clinic with no immediate truce in sight

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 10, 2025 23:30
Updated :
Jul 10, 2025 23:30

Palestinian newborns share an incubator at Al-Helou hospital due to fuel crisis, according to medics, amid the Israeli military offensive, in Gaza City, July 10, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

An Israeli airstrike hit Palestinians near a medical centre in Gaza on Thursday, killing 10 children and six adults, local health authorities said, as ceasefire talks dragged on with no immediate deal expected.

Verified video footage from the strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip showed the bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood amid dust and screaming. One clip showed several motionless children lying on a donkey cart.

"She didn't do anything, she was innocent, I swear. Her dream was for the war to end and that they announce it today, to go back to school," said Samah al-Nouri, sitting by the body of her daughter who was killed in the blast.

"She was only getting treatment in a medical facility. Why did they kill them?" she said, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital.

Israel's military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review.

The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators hold talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce.

A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another one or two weeks, however US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal.

"I think we're closer, and I think perhaps we're closer than we've been in quite a while," Rubio told reporters at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.

Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have failed to produce a breakthrough since the Israeli military resumed its campaign in March following a previous ceasefire.

Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Gazans, many of them civilians, and injured thousands, according to local health authorities, putting an enormous strain on the enclave's few remaining hospitals.

Dwindling fuel supplies risk further disruption in the semi-functioning hospitals, including to incubators at the neonatal unit of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors there said.

"We are forced to place four, five or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator," said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director, adding that premature babies were now in a critical condition.

TALKS

US President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to discuss the situation in Gaza amid reports that Israel and Hamas were nearing agreement on a US-brokered ceasefire proposal after 21 months of war.

The Israeli official who was in Washington with Netanyahu said that if the two sides agree to the ceasefire plan, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent truce requiring Hamas to disarm.

If Hamas refuses, "we'll proceed" with military operations in Gaza, the official said on condition of anonymity.

A Palestinian official said the talks in Qatar were in crisis and that issues under dispute, including whether Israel would continue to occupy parts of Gaza after a ceasefire, had yet to be resolved.

The two sides previously agreed a ceasefire in January but it did not lead to a deal on a permanent truce and Israel resumed its military assault two months later, stopping all aid supplies into Gaza and telling civilians to leave the north of the tiny territory.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has now killed more than 57,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has destroyed swathes of the territory and driven most Gazans from their homes.

The Hamas attack on Israeli border communities that triggered the war killed around 1,200 people and the militant group seized around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

There has also been repeated violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An Israeli man was killed at a shopping centre in the territory on Thursday by two Palestinian militants, who were then shot dead, police said.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was shot dead after he stabbed and injured a soldier, the army said.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza truce talks faltering over withdrawal, Palestinian and Israeli sources say

Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza are stalling over the extent of Israeli forces' withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations in Doha said on Saturday. The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are nonetheless

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Gaza truce talks faltering over withdrawal, Palestinian and Israeli sources say

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 12, 2025 16:36
Updated :
Jul 12, 2025 16:36

A Palestinian child stands at the site of an overnight Israeli air strike on a house, in Gaza City, July 11, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/Files

Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza are stalling over the extent of Israeli forces' withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations in Doha said on Saturday.

The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are nonetheless expected to continue, the sources said, despite the latest obstacles in clinching a deal.

A Palestinian source said that Hamas has rejected the withdrawal maps which Israel has proposed, as they would leave around 40 per cent of the territory under Israeli control, including all of the southern area of Rafah and further territories in northern and eastern Gaza.

Two Israeli sources said Hamas wants Israel to retreat to lines it held in a previous ceasefire before it renewed its offensive in March.

The Palestinian source said matters regarding aid and guarantees for ending the war were also presenting a challenge, and added that the crisis may be resolved with more US intervention.

The White House said on Monday that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, who played a major role in crafting the latest ceasefire proposal, will travel to Doha this week to join discussions there.

Delegations from Israel and Hamas have been in Qatar since Sunday in a renewed push for an agreement which envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals and discussions on ending the war entirely.

Hamas has long demanded an end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would end the fighting only when all hostages are released and Hamas is dismantled.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages there are believed to still be alive.

Israel's subsequent campaign against Hamas has since killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, displaced almost the entire population of more than 2 million people, sparked a humanitarian crisis and left much of the territory in ruins.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza ceasefire talks stalled over Israeli withdrawal plans

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza are being held up by Israel’s proposals to keep troops in the territory, two Palestinian sources with knowledge of the discussions told AFP on Saturday...

www.newagebd.net

Gaza ceasefire talks stalled over Israeli withdrawal plans
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 13 July, 2025, 01:46

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza are being held up by Israel’s proposals to keep troops in the territory, two Palestinian sources with knowledge of the discussions told AFP on Saturday.

Delegations from both sides began discussions in Qatar last Sunday to try to agree on a temporary halt to the 21-month conflict sparked by Hamas’s deadly October 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel has meanwhile kept up its strikes on Gaza and the territory’s civil defence agency said more than 20 people were killed on Saturday, including in an air strike on an area sheltering the displaced.

‘We all generally came here because we were told it was a safe area,’ Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the overnight attack in an area of Gaza City.

In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried, AFP photographs showed.

If an agreement for a 60-day ceasefire were reached, both Hamas and Israel have said 10 hostages taken in 2023 who remain alive in captivity would be released.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities.

But one Palestinian source, speaking anonymously, said Israel’s refusal to accept Hamas’s demand to withdraw all of its troops from Gaza was holding back progress.

A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of US president Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in the Qatari capital.

They added that Israel was proposing to maintain military forces in more than 40 per cent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

‘Hamas’s delegation will not accept the Israeli maps... as they essentially legitimise the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,’ they said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government.

The second Palestinian source accused the Israeli delegation of having no authority, and ‘stalling and obstructing the agreement in order to continue the war of extermination’.

The Gaza war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Of the 251 hostages seized, 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

At least 57,882 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Seven UN agencies warned in a joint statement on Saturday that if fuel runs out in Gaza, it would be ‘an unbearable new burden on a population teetering on the edge of starvation’.

The Israeli military said on Saturday it had attacked ‘approximately 250 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip’ in the previous 48 hours.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli missile hits Gaza children collecting water, IDF blames malfunction

At least eight Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and more than a dozen were wounded in central Gaza when they went to collect water on Sunday, local officials said, in an Israeli strike which the military said missed its target. The Israeli military said the missile had intended to

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Israeli missile hits Gaza children collecting water, IDF blames malfunction

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 13, 2025 22:11
Updated :
Jul 13, 2025 22:11

A Palestinian boy inspects the site of an Israeli strike that killed Palestinians, gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stringer

At least eight Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and more than a dozen were wounded in central Gaza when they went to collect water on Sunday, local officials said, in an Israeli strike which the military said missed its target.

The Israeli military said the missile had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant in the area but that a malfunction had caused it to fall "dozens of metres from the target".

"The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians," it said in a statement, adding that the incident was under review.

The strike hit a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six children and injuring 17 others, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al-Awda Hospital.

Water shortages in Gaza have worsened sharply in recent weeks, with fuel shortages causing desalination and sanitation facilities to close, making people dependent on collection centres where they can fill up their plastic containers.

Hours later, 12 people were killed by an Israeli strike on a market in Gaza City, including a prominent hospital consultant, Ahmad Qandil, Palestinian media reported. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.

Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday that more than 58,000 people had been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023, with 139 people added to the death toll over the past 24 hours.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its tally, but says over half of those killed are women and children.

TALKS STALLED

Negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire appeared to be deadlocked, with the two sides divided over the extent of an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources said at the weekend.

The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are being held in Doha, but optimism that surfaced last week of a looming deal has largely faded, with both sides accusing each other of intransigence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video he posted on Telegram on Sunday said Israel would not back down from its core demands - releasing all the hostages still in Gaza, destroying Hamas and ensuring Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.

Netanyahu was expected to convene ministers later on Sunday to discuss the ceasefire talks.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages there are believed to still be alive.

Israel's campaign against Hamas has displaced almost the entire population of more than 2 million people, but Gazans say nowhere is safe in the coastal enclave.

Early on Sunday morning, a missile hit a house in Gaza City where a family had moved to after receiving an evacuation order from their home in the southern outskirts.

"My aunt, her husband and the children, are gone. What is the fault of the children who died in an ugly bloody massacre at dawn?" said Anas Matar, standing in the rubble of the building.

"They came here, and they were hit. There is no safe place in Gaza," he said.
​

 

[Saif]

Death and destruction in Gaza in 21 months of war with Israel

Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in Oct 2023 in response to a cross-border attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israel’s military campaign over the past 21 months has laid waste to vast swathes of the Palestinian enclave. Below is a summary of the death and destruction, with much of

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Death and destruction in Gaza in 21 months of war with Israel

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 13, 2025 21:59
Updated :
Jul 13, 2025 21:59

Mourners sit next to dead bodies during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a house, according to medics, at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City Jul 13, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in Oct 2023 in response to a cross-border attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel’s military campaign over the past 21 months has laid waste to vast swathes of the Palestinian enclave. Below is a summary of the death and destruction, with much of the data drawn from reports released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

DEATHS IN GAZA

Between Oct 7 2023 and Jul 13 2025, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that at least 58,026 Palestinians were killed, and 138,520 injured. This includes more than 7,200 killed since a ceasefire broke down on Mar 18. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its tally, but says over half of those dead are women and children. Israel says at least 20,000 are fighters.

The United Nations said on Jul 11 that 798 people had been killed trying to access food since the end of May, when the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started distributing food. Of these deaths, 615 were registered near GHF sites and 183 on the routes of mainly UN aid convoys.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said on Jul 10 that the population of Gaza had fallen to 2,129,724 from 2,226,544 in 2023. Some 100,000 Palestinians are estimated to have left Gaza since the war started.

ISRAELI DEATHS

Between Oct 7 2023 and Jul 13 2025, according to official Israeli sources, almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict. This includes 1,200 killed on Oct 7 and 446 soldiers killed in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation in Oct 2023. Of these, 37 soldiers were killed and 197 injured since the re-escalation of hostilities in March. An estimated 50 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including 28 hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.

DISPLACEMENT

Since Mar 18 this year, the Israeli military has issued 54 displacement orders, covering about 81 percent of the Gaza Strip. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said this has meant that more than 700,000 people had been forced to relocate during this period. As of Jul 9, 86 percent of the Gaza Strip is within Israeli-militarised zones or under displacement orders. Many people have sought refuge in overcrowded displacement sites, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings and streets, OCHA says.

FOOD AND HUNGER

WFP said that since May 21, when border crossings re-opened to limited amounts of its aid, the UN agency had dispatched more than 1,200 trucks carrying 18,247 metric tons of food aid, according to a Jul 5 update.

“Despite these efforts, the food delivered to date is still a tiny fraction of what a population of over two million people need to survive,” it said.

Most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza are intercepted by hungry civilians, it said. It added that its target, agreed with Israel, was to bring 2,000 metric tons of food aid into Gaza every day.

Some 470,000 people are expected to face “catastrophic hunger” between May and September of this year, WFP said. Malnutrition is surging and some 90,000 children and women urgently need treatment, it added.

The GHF began delivering food at the end of May from a small number of distribution centres. It operates outside the United Nations and is supported by Israel. It said on Jul 8 that it had delivered more than 66 million free meals in over a month. Reaching its sites has proved often deadly for locals.

The Israeli military has acknowledged that Palestinian civilians were harmed near aid distribution centres, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned”.

REPORTED DAMAGE

An estimated 436,000 housing units (92 percent of the total) have been damaged or destroyed, OCHA reported on Jul 9, with 70 percent of all structures and 81 percent of all classified roads damaged or destroyed in the territory. 83 percent of arable land, 83 percent of agricultural water wells and 71 percent of greenhouses have been damaged, according to a UN report released in April.

HEALTHCARE

OCHA said only 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were functioning, but only on a partial basis. Ten out of 16 field hospitals are operational. Just over a third of Gaza’s primary health care centres were partially functioning.

UNICEF said more than one million children were in need of some sort of mental health and psycho-social support. OCHA said 1,580 health care workers had been killed in the conflict.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza truce talks in the balance as Israel and Hamas trade blame

Gaza ceasefire talks hung in the balance as Hamas and Israel on Saturday accused the other of blocking attempts to strike a deal, nearly a week into an attempt to halt 21 months of bitter fighting in the Palestinian territory.

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Gaza truce talks in the balance as Israel and Hamas trade blame
AFP Gaza City
Published: 13 Jul 2025, 09: 43

A man lying down on salvaged belongings looks on as Palestinians inspect destroyed tents at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on 11 July, 2025. AFP

Gaza ceasefire talks hung in the balance as Hamas and Israel on Saturday accused the other of blocking attempts to strike a deal, nearly a week into an attempt to halt 21 months of bitter fighting in the Palestinian territory.

A Palestinian source with knowledge of the indirect talks in Qatar told AFP that Israel's proposals to keep its troops in the war-torn territory were holding up a deal for a 60-day pause.

But on the Israeli side, a senior political official, also speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivities of the talks, accused the militants of inflexibility and deliberately trying to scuttle an accord.

On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 38 people were killed across the territory on Saturday, including in an overnight air strike on an area sheltering the displaced.

"While we were sleeping, there was an explosion... where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying," Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the attack in an area of Gaza City.

"We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered," he added.

In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried.

In Tel Aviv, thousands took to the streets urging the government to seal a hostage release deal. "The window of opportunity... is open now and it won't be for long," said Eli Sharabi, who was freed in February.

Both Hamas and Israel have said that 10 hostages held since the militants' October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war would be released -- if an agreement is reached.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities.

Enclave plans?
But one Palestinian source said Israel's refusal to accept Hamas's demand for a complete withdrawal of troops from Gaza was holding back progress in the talks.

A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone discussions until US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrives in the Qatari capital.

The first source said Israel was proposing to maintain its military in more than 40 percent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

"Hamas's delegation will not accept the Israeli maps... as they essentially legitimise the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement," they said.

Israeli media reported that new maps would be presented on Sunday, quoting an unnamed foreign official with knowledge of the details.

A senior Israeli political official countered later that it was Hamas that rejected what was on the table, accusing the group of "creating obstacles" and "refusing to compromise" with the aim of "sabotaging the negotiations".

"Israel has demonstrated a willingness to show flexibility in the negotiations, while Hamas remains intransigent, clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement," the official added in a statement sent to AFP.

The Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023 resulted in the deaths of at least 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Of the 251 hostages seized, 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

At least 57,882 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Military operations
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had attacked "approximately 250 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip" in the previous 48 hours.

It said fighter jets hit "over 35 Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

Two previous ceasefires -- a week-long truce beginning in late November 2023 and a two-month one from mid-January this year -- saw 105 hostages released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The second Palestinian source said "some progress" had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.

Netanyahu, who is under domestic and international pressure to end the war, said this week that neutralising Hamas as a security threat was a prerequisite for any long-term ceasefire talks.

That included disarmament, he said, warning that failure to do so would mean Israel would have to do so by force.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill at least 27

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed at least 27 Palestinians, including six near a water distribution point.

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Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill at least 27
AFP Gaza City
Published: 13 Jul 2025, 13: 10

Palestinians sit amid the rubble of a house in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike that hit Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on 13 July, 2025. AFP

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed at least 27 Palestinians, including six near a water distribution point.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight people "including children and women" and wounding others.

An Israeli air strike hit a family home near Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

Another strike "hit a potable water distribution point... in an area for displaced people west of the Nuseirat camp", Bassal added, reporting "six martyrs and several injured".

Palestinians assess the damage in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike that hit Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on 13 July, 2025. AFP

In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defence spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.

The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.​