DEIR AL-BALAH: Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 29 people overnight and into Sunday, including young quintuplets, local health officials said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region to try to seal a cease-fire deal after months of negotiations.
The U.S. and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar said they were closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas has signaled resistance to what it called new demands by Israel.
The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.
The war has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the territory's 2.3 million residents and led experts to warn of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio.
"It is as if we live a primitive life,” said Sanaa Akela, a displaced Palestinian now in the central town of Deir al-Balah, where sewage flooded some streets.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted around 250. Of those, some 110 are still believed to be in Gaza, though Israeli authorities say around a third are dead. More than 100 hostages were released in November during a weeklong cease-fire.
The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An Associated Press reporter there counted the bodies.
Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children's grandfather, said his daughter was a teacher, and the youngest child was 18 months. The others were 10-year-old quintuplets, the hospital said.
“The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” he told reporters. “What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? ... Will this provide security to Israel?”
Another strike east of Deir al-Balah killed at least four people, according to an AP journalist at the hospital. A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Another two strikes in central Gaza killed nine people, according to Al-Awda Hospital. A strike in Nuseirat killed one person, the hospital said.
Late Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital.
