Israeli strikes kill four in Gaza as truce talks stall
Shafaq News- Gaza
Israeli airstrikes killed four Palestinians, including a couple and their six-year-old daughter, in Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian health officials said, as renewed violence overshadowed ceasefire negotiations.
According to medics cited by Reuters, an airstrike hit a residential building in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killing the three family members and wounding another child. A separate strike in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood killed another person.
Separately, local media reported that an Israeli drone wounded one person east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. The outlets also said Israeli forces struck a police post in the Jabalia refugee camp and other locations across the enclave.
A day earlier, Hamas leaders concluded another round of ceasefire talks in Cairo aimed at advancing the second phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace initiative. Sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters the discussions covered Hamas' disarmament, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and post-war governance, but ended without significant progress amid deep mistrust between the two sides. The proposed second phase also envisions transferring administrative authority to a US-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, deploying an international security force, and launching reconstruction across the war-ravaged enclave. Earlier this month, sources within Hamas told Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement is preparing to dissolve its de facto governing body in the Gaza Strip after nearly two decades in power, clearing the way for a technocratic administration.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 13 people were killed and 18 wounded over the past 24 hours, including 12 newly reported deaths and one person who later succumbed to injuries. It added that rescue teams remained unable to reach some victims trapped beneath rubble or lying in inaccessible areas. According to the ministry, the death toll since the Oct. 11 ceasefire has risen to 1,123, with 3,616 people injured, while 800 bodies have been recovered during the same period. The overall death toll since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, had reached 73,246, with 173,727 people injured.
