18 killed as Israel strikes shelters, aid point in Gaza

At least 18 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday, medics said, while the Israeli military said it targeted gunmen operating from shelters and aid storages.

At least 10 people were killed in an airstrike near the municipality building in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip where people gathered to receive aid, medics said.

Casualties were being carried by foot, on rickshaws and private cars from the site of the attack to the hospital, medics said. The strike killed the head of the Hamas-run administrative committee in central Gaza, a Hamas source said.

The Israeli military was looking into the report, a spokesperson said. Earlier, Israeli aircraft struck militants and weapon caches near an aid warehouse, the military said, after gunmen had fired rockets into Israel from there.

A separate strike in Gaza City on a former shelter housing displaced people targeted Hamas fighters, the military said. At least seven people were killed in that attack, Palestinian medics said, including a woman and her baby.

It was unclear whether any of the other people killed were fighters. The military said it had taken precautions to reduce risk of harm to civilians.

A separate strike in Gaza City killed a local journalist, medics said. The military was looking into the report, a spokesperson said.

The war in Gaza began on Oct 7, 2023 when Israel then launched an air, sea and land offensive that has killed at least 44,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.

Several attempts to a ceasefire have failed to stop the bombardment on the tiny Palestinian territory.

A fresh bid by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce has gained momentum in recent weeks.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi yesterday discussed with visiting US officials efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostages-for prisoners deal in the Palestinian enclave, Sisi’s office said.

The killings ame a on the same day as top US officials and regional Arab power met to discuss the conflicts in the region — in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon.