Extract from ABC News
In short:
Palestinian health officials say at least 50 people have been killed in Israeli bombardments of southern and central Gaza on Tuesday.
Hamas accused Israel of stepping up attacks to try to derail efforts by mediators to reach a ceasefire deal, but Israel said it was trying to root out Hamas fighters.
Ceasefire talks stalled on Saturday after three days of intense negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome, Egyptian security sources said.
Israeli forces have battled Hamas-led fighters in several parts of the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian health officials have said at least 50 people have been killed in Israeli bombardments of southern and central areas.
The Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas has accused Israel of stepping up attacks in Gaza to try to derail efforts by Arab mediators and the United States to reach a ceasefire deal. Israel says it is trying to root out Hamas fighters.
In Rafah, a southern border city where Israeli forces have been operating since May, five Palestinians were killed in an air strike on a house on Tuesday, Gaza health officials said.
In nearby Khan Younis, a man, his wife and two children were killed, they said.
Later on Tuesday, an Israeli air strike on a car killed at least 13 Palestinians and wounded 26 others in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the officials said.
The air strike hit near a tented area housing displaced families in Attar Street, the health ministry said.
In the historic Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, at least four Palestinians were killed in separate shelling and aerial strikes while an Israeli air strike killed four in Sheikh Zayed in northern Gaza, medics said.
The Israeli military said troops continued "intelligence-based" activities in Rafah, and that air strikes had targeted militants, tunnels and other Hamas military infrastructure.
It said the Israeli air force had struck around 40 targets across the enclave, including sniping and observation posts, military structures and buildings rigged with explosives.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally, said their fighters had attacked Israeli forces in several locations with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
Islamic Jihad's armed wing said it had fired missiles at Sderot in southern Israel. There was no word of any deaths or serious damage.
Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after its militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israeli communities last October 7, according to Israeli tallies.
At least 38,713 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive since then, Gaza health authorities said in their latest update on Tuesday. Israel also says 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza.
In central Gaza, people visited Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah to say farewell to relatives before funerals.
"This is so unfair the number of martyrs [victims], every minute there is a martyr," elderly Palestinian Sahar Abu Emeira said.
"We're exhausted, we're devastated, we are extremely tired, our patience is over. Whether Hamas or the others [Israel], they need to agree as soon as possible."
Talks paused
Efforts mediated by Egypt and Qatar to end the conflict and release the hostages, as well as Palestinians in Israeli jails, had appeared to be making some progress, negotiators had said.
The talks stalled on Saturday after three days of intense negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome, Egyptian security sources said, and after an Israeli strike targeting Hamas's top military chief, Mohammed Deif.
The attack in the Khan Younis area killed more than 90 people and wounded hundreds, Gaza health authorities said.
A Palestinian official close to the negotiations told Reuters that Hamas was keen not to be seen as halting the talks despite the stepped-up Israeli attacks.
"Hamas wants the war to end, not at any price. It says it has shown the flexibility needed and is pushing the mediators to get Israel to reciprocate," the official said.
He said Hamas believed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to avoid a deal by adding more conditions that restricted the return of displaced people to northern Gaza and to maintain control over the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday that two senior advisers to Mr Netanyahu had said Israel was still committed to reaching a ceasefire.
Reuters
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