Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday as talks between Israel and Hamas aimed at a ceasefire resumed in Cairo.
Witnesses said Israeli airstrikes hit several tents at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, killing at least two people. They have been taking refuge in the area after fighting forced thousands to flee their homes. The Israeli military has yet to comment on the incident.
Fighting in the region continues despite the United Nations Security Council passing a resolution last week calling on Israel and Hamas to immediately cease fire and release all hostages held by the militant group.
As the war approaches six months, the United States, Qatar and Egypt have been working to mediate another ceasefire and the release of hostages since the first in November.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday approved the resumption of ceasefire talks with Hamas.
However, an official told Reuters on Sunday that Hamas would not attend the talks in Cairo as it awaited word from mediators on whether Israel would make a new offer.
Hamas has previously proposed a gradual ceasefire process during which all remaining hostages would be released in exchange for an end to the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the opening of borders to aid and reconstruction and the release of hundreds of Palestinians. Palestinian prisoners, including senior militants serving life sentences.
Netanyahu called Hamas’s terms delusional and pledged to resume the Israeli offensive after the hostages were released and to continue fighting until the armed group was eliminated.
Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, is believed to be holding about 100 hostages, as well as the remains of about 30 of the roughly 1,200 people killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack that triggered the Israeli war.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas has so far killed more than 32,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured more than 70,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Israel claims a third of those killed were militants.
Much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble, and most of Gaza’s population has taken refuge in the southern Gaza border city of Rafah.
Information for this report was provided in part by The Associated Press and Reuters.
