By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas
CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli air strikes killed at least nine Palestinians in two separate attacks in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, bringing the death toll over the weekend to 97, Palestinian medics said, as US and Arab mediators intensified their efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement. .
Health officials said that an Israeli air strike killed five people in a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while another air strike killed four others in Jabalia on the northern edge of the Strip, where Israeli forces have been operating for three months.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the two incidents.
Earlier on Sunday, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is run by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said that Israeli raids throughout the Strip resulted in the killing of at least 88 Palestinians and the injury of more than 200 others during the past 24 hours.
In the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, relatives and neighbors rushed to the Zuhd family home, which was subjected to an Israeli air strike late Saturday evening, killing seven people, medics said. Searches continued on Sunday morning for four others believed to be trapped under the rubble.
The hand of one of the dead was seen among the rubble, and the rest of his body was buried under the collapsed building. Three men removed the dirt with their bare hands to retrieve the bodies and search for possible survivors.
“There are still three young men, a daughter-in-law and three children. We have recovered this cousin of mine. Another cousin was martyred and is now in the hospital. About 11 people were martyred here,” Ammar Zuhd, a relative, told Reuters.
Israel says dozens of Hamas activists were killed
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that its forces attacked more than 100 targets across Gaza over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas activists. It added that it also destroyed rocket launch sites that were used to launch missile attacks on Israel in recent days.
Renewed efforts are underway to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, and to return Israeli hostages taken to Gaza, before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
Israeli negotiators were sent on Friday to resume talks in Doha with Qatari and Egyptian mediation, while the administration of US President Joe Biden, which is helping mediate, urged Hamas to agree to an agreement.
Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible, but it was not clear how close the two sides were.
Israel launched its attack on Gaza in response to an October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on communities in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage, according to Israeli statistics.
The Israeli military campaign, aimed at eliminating Hamas, has leveled vast swaths of the Strip, displacing most people from their homes, and killing 45,805 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal Al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Daoud Abu Al-Kass in Gaza; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
