Almost 20 killed in overnight strikes on Gaza but ceasefire hopes rise

Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed 19 people overnight, including a woman and her six children, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to the region to try to seal a ceasefire deal after months of contentious negotiations.

The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike early on Sunday on a home in the central town of Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments in a residential building, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Another strike in central Gaza killed four people, according to the Awda Hospital.

Late on Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group conceals fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas. But the months-long Israeli bombardment has wiped out entire extended families and orphaned thousands of children.

Peace talks

The US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar appear to be closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism.

But Hamas has signalled resistance to what it says are new demands by Israel, and the long-running talks have repeatedly stalled.

The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its October 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Hamas. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.

The mediators hope to end a war that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the territory’s 2.3 million residents and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Experts have warned of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October attack and abducted around 250. Of those, some 110 are still believed to be inside Gaza, with Israeli authorities saying around a third are deceased. More than 100 hostages were released in November during a week-long ceasefire.

The mediators have spent months trying to halt the fighting, efforts that gained new urgency after the targeted killing of two top militants last month, both attributed to Israel, brought vows of revenge from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, raising fears of an all-out war across the Middle East.

An American official said on Friday that mediators were beginning preparations for implementing the latest ceasefire proposal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office expressed “cautious optimism” that a deal could be reached.

An Israeli delegation is set to travel to Cairo on Sunday for further talks, and Mr Blinken is expected to meet with Mr Netanyahu on Monday.

Hamas has cast doubt on whether an agreement is near, saying the latest proposal diverged significantly from a previous iteration they had accepted in principle.

Hamas has rejected Israel’s demands for a lasting military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and a line bisecting Gaza where Israeli forces would search Palestinians returning to their homes. Israel says both are needed to prevent militants from rearming and returning to the north.

Israel showed flexibility on retreating from the border corridor, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli military officials is scheduled for next week to agree on a withdrawal mechanism, according to two Egyptian officials.