Beirut, Nov 19: Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed eight people, including two children aged 7 and 9 and their parents, Palestinian officials said Monday.A third child, 10 years old, was wounded in an overnight strike on a tent where displaced people were sheltering in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Civil Defence, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government. An Associated Press reporter saw the children’s bodies at nearby Nasser Hospital.
A separate strike early Monday killed four people, including a woman and a child, in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The Israeli military blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing militants of hiding among civilians and fighting from residential areas. It rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.
The war began when Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 43,800 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. They do not distinguish between militants and civilians but say most of those killed are women and children. The fighting has left some 76 people dead in Israel, including 31 soldiers.
A government minister close to Hezbollah says Lebanon will convey its āpositive positionā on a United States-backed cease-fire proposal this week.
The Biden administration is trying to halt the war between Israel and the militant group after months of sputtering cease-fire efforts.
Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who is mediating for the militants, is expected to meet with US envoy Amos Hochstein in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday.
Labour Minister Mostafa Bayram, who met with Berri on Monday, said Hezbollah’s function āis to make sure the (Israeli) aggression fails to achieve its goals, while negotiation is for the state and the governmentā.
A Western diplomat familiar with the talks told The Associated Press there is a sense of ācautious optimismā.
āDiplomatic efforts are converging towards a cease-fire, but it’s still in the hands and heads of key players to decide if it’s in their interest or not to stop things right now,ā said the diplomat, who was not authorised to brief media and so spoke on condition of anonymity.