Gaza, Gaza Strip.- New Israeli attacks have killed at least 16 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health authorities said Thursday.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received the bodies, including the remains of a woman and three children, after the attacks that occurred overnight and Thursday. An Associated Press journalist at the hospital counted the bodies.
A man held the body of a child wrapped in a white shroud as a woman next to him cried, saying: “My love, my soul.” The Israeli offensive launched in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry, which did not say how many were combatants or civilians.
Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and kidnapped about 250. About 110 hostages remain inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the militants are fighting in densely populated residential areas. Separately, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Thursday that an Israeli delegation has arrived in Cairo to resume talks on a cease-fire in Gaza. The Israeli delegation is headed by Mossad intelligence agency director David Barnea, said an Israeli official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The talks on a cease-fire and the release of hostages – brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar – are aimed at narrowing the gap between Israel and Hamas. A major bone of contention is Israel’s insistence on retaining control of two strategic corridors in Gaza. Hamas rejects any Israeli control and demands a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Israel says a military presence is necessary to prevent another attack like the one on Oct. 7.
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