(Photo : AFP via Getty Images)
Palestinians survey the damage at a tent camp outside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip after it was hit by an Israel airstrike on Sunday, March 31, 2024, during the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
Talks over a potential truce in the war between Israel and Hamas resumed Sunday as the Israeli military continued deadly strikes across the Gaza Strip, including one that killed as many as four Palestinians in a tent camp outside a hospital.
A new round of negotiations began in Egypt over a proposed six-week suspension of Israel's ongoing offensive in exchange for the release of 40 of the 130 hostages still held after their kidnapping by Hamas during its Oct. 7 surprise attacks against Israel.
The militant Islamic group isn't taking part in the session with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo because it's waiting to hear if Israel is willing to put a new offer on the table, an unidentified official told Reuters.
Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas, has rejected the militants' call for a deal that leads to an end of the nearly six-month war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Health officials in Gaza said Sunday that Israeli attacks killed dozens of Palestinians, including four in a tent camp at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to Reuters.
The Associated Press, which had a journalist at the scene, put the death toll at two, with 15 wounded.
Israeli troops also continued raids in and around Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, which Israel has said was secretly being used by Hamas to house an elaborate, underground command-and-control center.
On Saturday, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry said 107 patients, 30 of whom are paralyzed, and 60 staffers were stuck in the hospital under "inhuman conditions, without water, medicine, food or electricity," according to CNN.
The raids began almost two weeks ago and sparked fierce fighting that Israel has said killed scores of Hamas fighters, including some top operatives.
On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said it killed a number of "terrorists barricaded in the area in close-quarters combat and located weapons in the area of the hospital."
As of Sunday, at least 32,782 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched attacks that killed about 1,200 people in Israel.
