Israeli strikes kill over 40 as truce talks stall
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Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed more than 40 Palestinians, including at a market and a water distribution point, as talks for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas stalled.Delegations from Israel and the Palestinian militant group have now spent a week trying to agree on a temporary truce to halt 21 months of bitter fighting in the Gaza Strip.But on Saturday, each side accused the other of blocking attempts to secure an agreement at the indirect talks in the Qatari capital, Doha.There has meanwhile been no let-up in Israeli strikes on Gaza, where most of the population of more than two million have been displaced at least once during the war.Seven UN agencies on Saturday warned that a fuel shortage had reached "critical levels", threatening aid operations, hospital care and food security.Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said at least 43 people were killed in the latest Israeli strikes, including 11 when a market in Gaza City was hit.Eight children were among 10 victims of a drone strike at a water point in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, Bassal said."We woke up to the sound of two large explosions," Khaled Rayyan told AFP after a house was flattened also in Nuseirat. "Our neighbour and his children were under the rubble."Another resident, Mahmud al-Shami, called on the negotiators to secure an end to the war. "What happened to us has never happened in the entire history of humanity," he said. "Enough."In southern Gaza, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, the civil defence spokesman said.There was no comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza.But it said in a statement Sunday that in the past 24 hours fighter jets "struck more than 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip".The targets included militants, weapons storage sites, and anti-tank and sniper positions, the military statement said.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
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