Quadruplets among Gaza’s dead as Blinken travels to the region to try to seal a cease-fire deal
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 19 people overnight, including a woman and her six children, as U.S. Antony Blinken headed to the region to discuss a cease-fire deal.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 28 people overnight and into Sunday, including young quadruplets, local health officials said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to 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 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 Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.
A man carries a body at a funeral for more than 15 people, including several children and women, who were killed in an Israeli strike Saturday that hit a house and an adjacent warehouse sheltering displaced people in Deir al-Balah.Abdel Kareem Hana / APThe mediators hope to end a war that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local 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.
“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.
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