21 Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes

Israeli gunfire and airstrikes killed at least 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said, as mediators reached out to Israel and Hamas to seek a resumption of ceasefire talks to end the war.

Local health authorities said an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

Three other people were killed by Israeli gunfire and dozens were wounded as crowds awaited U.N. aid trucks along a main route in central Gaza, medics said, the latest in a series of multiple fatalities at aid distribution points.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Thursday’s incidents. Israel says it is seeking to eliminate militants from Hamas, which attacked southern Israel from Gaza in 2023, and free hostages still held by the group.

The new deaths come as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, reached out to the warring parties in a bid to hold new ceasefire talks, but no exact time was set for a new round, according to Hamas sources.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition with far-right parties, insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, release all hostages, relinquish any role and lay down its weapons to end to the war.

Hamas, in turn, has stated it would release the hostages if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza. While it has conceded it would no longer govern Gaza, Hamas has refused to discuss disarmament.

Hamas-led militants killed close to 1,200 people and took 251 hostages when they attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, according to tallies from Israel, which launched a huge military campaign in response.

Israel’s retaliatory war has so far killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and destroyed much of the coastal strip.

Most of the hostages released so far have been freed through indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.