A Gaza ceasefire deal could be signed in the coming days, the source said, as Israeli strikes continue
The United States, joined by Arab mediators, on Wednesday sought a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the 14-month-old war in the Gaza Strip, where medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight.
A Palestinian official close to the talks on Wednesday said negotiators had torn through many loopholes in the terms of the deal. He said that Israel presented the conditions that Hamas rejected but would not elaborate.
On Tuesday, sources close to the talks in Cairo said an agreement could be signed in the coming days on a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza in exchange for the return of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Doctors said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in a house in the northern city of Beit Lahiya and six were killed in separate airstrikes in Gaza City, the Nuseirat camp in the central areas, and Rafah near the Egyptian border.
In Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip, health officials said four people were killed in an airstrike on a house. There was no comment from the Israeli military.
Israeli forces have been operating in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and the nearby Jabalia camp since October, in an operation the military says is aimed at preventing Hamas militants from regrouping.
Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out acts of “ethnic cleansing” to eliminate the northern edge of the enclave to create a buffer zone. Israel denies it.
Hamas does not disclose its deaths, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health does not distinguish between the number of daily deaths between soldiers and non-soldiers.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it attacked a number of Hamas militants who were planning to attack Israeli soldiers serving in Jabalia.
Later on Wednesday, Muhammad Saleh, the director of Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, said that Israeli shelling in the area damaged the facility, injuring seven doctors and one patient in the hospital.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
In the Central Gaza camp of Bureij, Palestinian families began to leave other districts after the army sent new orders to leave X and via text and audio messages to the cellphones of some people there, citing new rocket fire by Palestinian militants in the area. .
Amnesty International has accused the state of Israel of killing Palestinians in the war in Gaza in a new report, allegations that Israel bitterly denies, saying it respects international law.
The ceasefire is gaining momentum
American officials, joined by negotiators from Egypt and Qatar, have made major efforts in recent days to advance negotiations before US President Joe Biden leaves office next month.
In Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Adam Boehler, Donald Trump's envoy appointed by the US president on hostage issues. Trump has threatened that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas does not release its hostages on January 20, the day Trump returns to the White House.
CIA Director William Burns was due in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday for talks with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani about bridging the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The CIA declined to comment.
Israeli talks in Doha on Monday aimed to close the gaps between Israel and Hamas in the deal Biden announced in May.
More than 14 months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza is being illegally invaded and aid agencies say the collapse threatens the survival of up to two million people.
There have been several rounds of talks over the past year, all unsuccessful, with Israel insisting on keeping troops in Gaza and Hamas refusing to release hostages until the troops leave.
The war in Gaza, which began with an attack on communities in southern Israel led by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, sent shockwaves through the Middle East and left Israel alone in the world.
The Israeli campaign killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million people and reduced much of the coast to ruins.
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