DEIR AL BALAR, Gaza Strip — Violence escalated in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 18 people, all from the same family, in Israeli air strikes, as mediators expressed optimism that a ceasefire agreement was imminent.
The attack came days after the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip’s health ministry said the death toll in the 10-month war between Israel and Hamas had surpassed 40,000, and just hours after U.S., Egyptian and Qatari officials ended two days of ceasefire talks with messages expressing hope that an agreement could be reached.
A joint statement by the three mediators laid out proposals to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas and said they would work out details of how the agreement would be implemented in Cairo next week.
The mediation efforts are aimed not only at securing the release of many Israeli hostages and halting fighting that has devastated the Gaza Strip, where aid workers and health workers fear a possible polio epidemic, but also to defuse regional tensions that threaten to escalate into a larger war amid fears that Iran and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon could attack Israel in retaliation for the killing of a militant leader.
The airstrike in Gaza early Saturday morning hit a house and an adjacent warehouse where displaced people were taking shelter at the entrance to the town of Zawayda, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where the victims were being taken. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the dead as they were taken.
Among the victims was Sami Jawad al-Ezirah, a wholesaler who worked with the Israeli army to transport meat and fish to the Gaza Strip, along with his two wives, 11 of his children aged between 2 and 22, the children’s grandmother and three other relatives, according to a death list provided by the hospital.
“He was a peaceful person,” said Abu Ahmed, a neighbor who was slightly injured in the attack.
He said more than 40 civilians had taken shelter in homes and warehouses at the time of the attack.
Associated Press footage showed bulldozers clearing rubble from a badly damaged warehouse and trucks that Abu Ahmed said were being used to transport meat and fish from Israel to Gaza.
The Israeli army, which rarely comments on individual attacks, said it was investigating the reports. It said on Saturday it was continuing its attacks on militant groups in central Gaza, some of whom fired rockets at soldiers.
Meanwhile, another large-scale evacuation order has been issued for areas in central Gaza. Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraei said in a post on X that Palestinians living in the city of Maghazi refugee camp and the surrounding areas should leave. He said the Israeli army was conducting operations in those areas in response to Palestinian rocket attacks.
According to the United Nations, most of Gaza’s residents have been forced to flee multiple times by fighting, and around 84 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip is under evacuation orders by the Israeli military.
The war began when Hamas-led militants broke through the border on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 250 to Gaza. A ceasefire in November freed more than 100, and about 110 are believed to still be in Gaza, although Israeli authorities believe about a third of them have been killed.
Israel claims it has killed more than 17,000 Hamas fighters in the war but has not provided any evidence.
Mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan that would see Hamas release its hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
But the efforts have taken on new urgency in recent weeks as diplomats hope an agreement will persuade Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to refrain from retaliating for an Israeli air strike in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander and an explosion in Tehran that killed Hamas’ top political leader, attacks widely blamed on Israel.
A U.S. official said Friday that the ceasefire agreement now being offered to both sides would bridge all of the gaps between Israel and Hamas. In what was seen as a sign of trust, the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity in accordance with White House rules, said mediators were working on implementing the draft agreement even before it was approved.
The official said an “implementation room” had been set up in Cairo to focus on logistical support, including releasing hostages, delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza and ensuring compliance with the terms of the deal.
But Hamas has doubts that a deal is near.
The extremist group said in a statement that the latest proposal was a significant departure from an earlier one it had agreed to in principle and signalled it was not willing to accept it.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying it “appreciates the efforts of the United States and the mediators to dissuade Hamas from rejecting the hostage release agreement.”
The two countries agreed in principle to the plan announced by U.S. President Joe Biden on May 31. But Hamas has proposed amendments, Israel has demanded clarifications and each side has accused the other of trying to derail the deal.
A U.S. official said the latest proposal was the same as Biden’s, but with some clarifications based on ongoing discussions, and that its structure would pose no risk to Israel’s security, but would instead strengthen it, the official added.
Hamas has rejected Israeli demands, including to station troops along the border with Egypt and to search for Palestinians returning to their homes and flush out militants along the line that bisects the Gaza Strip.
As part of stepped-up diplomatic efforts to secure an agreement, French Foreign Minister Stephane Séjourne met his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Saturday.
Sejourne and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Israeli officials on Friday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Israel over the weekend and is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
