34 Palestinians and 1 soldier killed in Gaza as hopes for imminent truce fade
The fighting in Gaza has shown no sign of slowing as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Donald Trump in Washington this week to work on a U.S.-led ceasefire plan. Hopes for an agreement in the near term appeared to be fading as Netanyahu prepared to return to Israel.
Netanyahu is holding firm to the idea that Hamas must be destroyed, while Hamas wants a complete end to the war following the proposed 60-day truce.
Conflict drags on in Gaza
Gaza's Nasser Hospital reported a total of 21 deaths in airstrikes in the southern town of Khan Younis and the nearby coastal area of Muwasi. It said three children and their mother, as well as two additional women, were among the dead.
In central Gaza, at least 13 people were killed in the city of Deir al-Balah, including at least 10 people waiting to receive nutritional supplements at a medical clinic early Thursday, according to Project Hope, an aid group that runs the clinic. Two women and five children were among the dead.
'This is just a tragedy, it is a violation of the humanitarian laws. No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,' said Dr Mithqal Abutaha, the group's project manager, who was at another clinic at the time.
'It was a horrific scene,' he added. 'People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.'
He said the clinic, a humanitarian facility well known to all parties, was mildly damaged and will be closed for several days.
The Israeli military said it struck near the medical center when it was targeting a militant who had infiltrated into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It said it was investigating.
Additionally, the military said Israeli troops have been working in Khan Younis to dismantle more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites over the past week, including a 500-meter (yard) tunnel, missile launch sites, and weapons storage facilities.
Over the past 24 hours, massive explosions in Gaza sent plumes of smoke up the sky and were visible from the border with Israel.
On Thursday, the Israeli military announced that a soldier was killed in Khan Younis a day earlier after militants burst out of an underground tunnel and tried to abduct him. The soldier was shot and killed, while troops in the area shot the militants, hitting several of them, the military said.
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks, one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months, putting additional public pressure on Netanyahu to end the war.
The war began after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
Iranian-damaged buildings demolished in Israel
Meanwhile, Israel began demolitions on Thursday of more than a dozen buildings in the central city of Bat Yam, which saw the deadliest Iranian missile strike during the 12-day Israel-Iran war.
Nine people were killed, including five members of the same family, in Bat Yam. The family were Ukrainian refugees who fled the war and came to Israel for medical treatment, according to Israeli media.
Bat Yam mayor Tzvika Brot said the strike left 2,000 people — more than 1 percent of the city's population — homeless. Many are now living at hotels.
'We're going to demolish 20 buildings, but we're going to build them better, stronger, and there will be much more Israeli families running around here. That will be the best answer to our enemies,' he added.
More than 15,000 Israelis were displaced from their homes due to damage from Iranian missiles, according to the Prime Minister's Office.
Iran launched 550 missiles and more than 1,000 drones towards Israel, killing 28 people, and injuring more than 3,000. Iran's government said this week that at least 1,060 Iranians were killed in the war.
Violence in the West Bank
A 55-year-old Palestinian man was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday. The Israeli military said the man was shot after stabbing a soldier in the village of Rumana. The soldier suffered moderate wounds.
The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting militants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. That has coincided with a rise in settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Palestinian militants from the West Bank have also attacked and killed Israelis in Israel and the West Bank as tensions simmer.
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El Deeb reported from Beirut and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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