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Israeli military strikes killed at least 60 people in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian medics said, as the United States and Arab mediators pushed for a ceasefire deal and President Donald Trump visited the Middle East.
Most of the victims, including women and children, were killed in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in airstrikes that hit homes and tents, they said.
The Israeli military has not yet provided a statement regarding its increased operations in Gaza, aimed at eliminating Hamas after the fatal assaults executed by the Palestinian militant group on Israel in 2023.
Hamas said in a statement that Israel was making a “desperate attempt to negotiate under the cover of fire” as indirect ceasefire talks take place between Israel and Hamas, involving Trump envoys and Qatar and Egyptian mediators in Doha.
Israel carried out the latest strikes on the day Palestinians commemorate the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced to flee their hometowns and villages during the 1948 Middle East war that gave birth to the state of Israel.
With most of the 2.3 million people in Gaza internally displaced, some residents of the tiny enclave say suffering is greater now than at the time of the Nakba.
“What we are experiencing now is even worse than the Nakba of 1948,” said Ahmed Hamad, a Palestinian in Gaza City who has been displaced multiple times.
“The truth is, we live in a constant state of violence and displacement. Wherever we go, we face attacks. Death surrounds us everywhere.”
According to Palestinian health authorities, Israeli strikes have intensified following the commencement of Trump’s visit to Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday—a trip Palestinians anticipated might advance truce efforts.
The latest strikes follow attacks on Gaza on Wednesday that killed at least 80 people, local health officials said.
Little has come of new indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, led by Trump’s envoys and Qatar and Egyptian mediators in Doha.
Hamas says it is ready to free all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza in return for an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers interim truces, saying the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.
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