As Israel sent a number of senior officials to discuss a potential ceasefire, there were at least eight fatalities in an Israeli attack on a school in northern Gaza that housed displaced Palestinians.
An Israeli attack on Saturday hit the Zainab al-Wazir school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia al-Balad area, killing eight civilians, including two women and two children, according to the Palestinian civil emergency service.
“The Israelis have targeted us without any prior warning”, a mother told Al Jazeera, as she searched through the debris. “They attacked us with a missile. I don’t know where our children are. I don’t know anything about them, whether they’re wounded or killed”.
Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout described the scenes at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where dozens of the wounded were taken, as “bloody” and “dire”, noting the dearth of medical supplies under Israel’s ongoing siege of northern Gaza, which has been in place for more than 80 days.
Later on Saturday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported strikes on a number of locations in Gaza, including one that left four Palestinians dead and several others hurt in the Daraj neighborhood.
Israeli fighter jets also bombed a tent sheltering displaced families in Deir el-Balah, located in the centre of the enclave, killing three people, Wafa reported.
One person reportedly perished in another strike in the southern town of Khan Younis and another near the Bureij refugee camp, which is also in central Gaza.
Egypt, Qatar, and the United States made additional attacks as negotiations arose to release the remaining Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in Israeli prisons.
“Tough sticking points” are
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who had travelled to Qatar earlier in the week.
According to Egyptian security sources cited by news agency Reuters, Witkoff had assured Egyptian and Qatari mediators that the US would continue to work toward a fair deal to end the war as soon as possible.
After the meeting, Netanyahu dispatched a high-level delegation, including the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, to Qatar in order to “advance” talks, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
“There are a lot of moving parts here”, said Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
You have to keep in mind that there are difficult sticking points on each side, according to Donald Trump, who stated that he would be very aggressive in his efforts to broker a ceasefire if it didn’t occur before taking office.
Hamas claims that they want a full ceasefire that will result in the end of the conflict and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
” And you also have the Israeli public, which is constantly demonstrating against Benjamin Netanyahu, against the Israeli government, saying that he’s neither capable nor willing to make a deal fifteen months into this war, “she said.
Families of Israeli captives welcomed Netanyahu’s decision to dispatch the officials, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters describing it as an” historic opportunity”.
“It’s impossible to stay alive,”
As the talks over a ceasefire progress, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported on the Palestinians’ struggle with severe food shortages as Israel continues to ignore UN demands to lift its restrictions on supplies entering the Strip.
Khoudary, a reporter from Deir el-Balah, reported that “we’re seeing kids with empty pots every day while searching for community kitchens,” and that families are only able to provide their children with one meal per day.
” It’s not only the continuous air strikes, but also malnutrition is killing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, “she said.
Vibe Klarup, head of Amnesty Denmark, said that Israel was committing” genocide”.
” When we say Israel is committing genocide, it is not an opinion, it’s a conclusion on the basis of a legal, thorough analysis, “she told The European Palestinian Network conference in Copenhagen.
Our task as citizens is to stop the genocide, she continued. It is becoming increasingly difficult to survive in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Aljazeera
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