Deir al-balah, Oct 3: Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 57 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, health officials said, as Hamas was still considering its response to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for ending the nearly two-year war.
The plan requires Hamas to return all 48 hostages — about 20 of them thought by Israel to still be alive — give up power and disarm in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sets no path to Palestinian statehood.
Palestinians long for the war to end but many believe the plan favours Israel, and a Hamas official told The Associated Press that some elements were unacceptable, without elaborating.
Qatar and Egypt, two key mediators, said certain elements require more negotiations.
Israel intercepts activist aid flotilla
At least 29 people were killed by Israeli fire in southern Gaza Thursday, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Officials there said 14 of them were killed in an Israeli military corridor where there have been frequent shootings around the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah said they had received 16 dead from Israeli strikes.
Doctors Without Borders said one of its occupational therapists was killed while waiting for a bus in Deir al-Balah, in a strike that seriously wounded four other people. The international charity described Omar Hayek, 42, as a “quiet man of profound kindness and professionalism.”
Hayek, who had recently fled south from Gaza City, is the 14th staffer from the organisation to have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, it said.
In Gaza City, health officials at Shifa Hospital said they received five bodies and several wounded people, adding that its staff are having difficulties reaching the hospital as Israel wages a major offensive aimed at occupying the city.
Other hospitals reported an additional seven deaths from Israeli fire. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it only strikes militants and accuses Hamas of putting civilians in danger by operating in populated areas.
Israel has meanwhile intercepted most of the more than 40 vessels in a widely watched flotilla carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid for Palestinians and aiming to break Israel’s 18-year blockade of Gaza, according to organisers.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on social media that activists on board — including Greta Thunberg and several European lawmakers — were safe and were being taken to Israel to begin “procedures” for their deportation.
In the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian militant was killed and another arrested on Thursday after they carried out a car-ramming and shooting attack on an Israeli army checkpoint, the military said, adding that no soldiers were wounded.
Mounting toll in Gaza
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,200 Palestinians and wounded nearly 1,70,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government. UN agencies and many independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
Around 4,00,000 Palestinians have fled famine-stricken Gaza City since Israel launched a major offensive there last month. On Thursday morning, smoke could be seen in northern Gaza and people were fleeing the area headed south.
Israel’s defence minister on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, saying it was their “last opportunity” and that anyone who stayed would be considered a militant supporter.
While Hamas’ military capabilities have been vastly depleted, it still carries out sporadic attacks. On Wednesday, at least seven projectiles were launched into Israel from Gaza, but all were either intercepted or fell in open areas, with no reports of casualties, the Israeli military said. (AP)
