Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza amid stepped up ceasefire push

Cairo: Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed at least 27 people on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said, as international mediators stepped up efforts to seal a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

An airstrike killed at least 10 people in a multi-storey house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, while another killed five in the nearby Zeitoun suburb, medics said.

In Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, a total of seven people were killed, they said.

Israel's military said it struck Hamas militants operating in a school in Jabalia, and that it took steps to minimise risk to civilians.

Later on Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians inside the public garden in Gaza City, medics said. There was no Israeli military comment.

Such mass casualties are a daily occurrence in Gaza, where more than 46,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel's 15-month-long assault against Hamas, according to health officials in the enclave.

As Israel continued its bombardments, the United States, Qatar and Egypt were making intensive efforts to reach a ceasefire deal, with one source close to the talks saying this was the most serious attempt to reach a deal so far.

The outgoing U.S. administration has called for a final push for a deal before President Joe Biden leaves office, and many in the region view president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20 as an unofficial deadline.

"Things are better than ever before, but there is no deal yet," the source told Reuters.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said overnight he hopes to have good things to report about Israeli hostages held by the time Trump is sworn in as president. A deal would also involve the release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The Gaza Health Ministry meanwhile warned that Nasser Hospital and the Gaza European Hospital might stop operations in a few hours unless the Israelis stop restricting the flow of fuel to the hospitals.

It later said it received a limited amount of fuel that would delay a complete halt of operations until Thursday unless more fuel arrives.

Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza.

The country launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Its Gaza campaign has laid waste to much of the enclave. Most of the territory's 2.1 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.

On Wednesday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said heavy rains and flooding had left families living in damaged tents with up to 30 cm of water in them, "clinging on to survival without even the most basic necessities, such as blankets".

Israel and Hamas both accuse the other of blocking a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal by adhering to conditions that have torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.

On Tuesday, Hamas stood by its demand that it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.