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Published On 19 Dec 2024
US and Arab mediators are working round-the-clock to hammer out a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, sources close to the talks told the Reuters news agency, while in the Gaza Strip medics said Israeli strikes had killed 41 Palestinians on Thursday.
The mediators, at talks in Egypt and Qatar, are trying to forge a deal to pause the 14-month-old war in the besieged enclave that would include a release of captives seized from Israel on October 7, 2023, along with Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Mediators had managed to narrow some gaps on previous sticking points but differences remained, the sources said.
In Gaza, medics said at least 13 Palestinians were killed overnight in separate Israeli air strikes, including on two houses in Gaza City and a central camp.
Medics said an Israeli air strike killed nine people near the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, while another killed four others at a housing project near Beit Lahiya in the north. There was no Israeli comment.
Later on Thursday, air strikes killed at least 15 Palestinians in two shelters housing displaced families in eastern Gaza City’s suburb of Tuffah, medics said, bringing Thursday’s death toll to 41.
The Israeli military said it struck Hamas fighters operating in command and control complexes in areas that were previously the Al-Karama and Sha’ban Schools in Tuffah. It said Hamas used the complexes to plan and execute attacks against its forces.
