Israeli attacks kill 20 people in central Gaza and raze large parts of Gaza City to the ground

Buildings lie in ruins after Israeli forces withdrew from the Shejaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza city following a ground offensive amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 10, 2024. Photo by Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes early Wednesday killed 20 Palestinians, including six children and three women, in central Gaza. Some of them were in a supposed “safe zone” declared by the Israeli military, hospital authorities said.

READ MORE: Israel’s new attack on Gaza City forces medical facilities to close, thousands flee

This second night of deadly attacks on the central city of Deir al-Balah and nearby refugee camps came as American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators and Israeli politicians met in the Qatari capital, Doha, for talks to push through a long-unfinished agreement on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.

In recent days, Israel and Hamas seemed to have managed to close their rift, but obstacles remain.

Early Wednesday, attacks struck three houses in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 12 people, including five children, authorities said at Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, where the victims were taken. An Associated Press reporter counted the dead.

The camp, like others in Gaza, was originally built to house Palestinians who were expelled from their homes during the war for the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. In the decades since then, it has grown into an urban neighborhood.

A fourth attack early Wednesday killed four men, three women and a child when it hit a house in Deir al-Balah, an area within the “humanitarian security zone” where Israel is providing refuge to Palestinians as it carries out offensives in several parts of the Gaza Strip.

The overnight attack came hours after Israeli warplanes struck the entrance to a school housing displaced families outside the southern town of Khan Younis. The toll from the attack rose to 31 dead, including eight children, and more than 50 injured, officials at the nearby Nasser Hospital said on Wednesday.

Al-Jazeera television footage showed children playing football in the schoolyard when a sudden bang shook the area, sparking cries of “Strike, strike!”

The Israeli army said it was investigating the airstrike near the school and reports of civilian casualties. It claimed the attack was aimed at a Hamas militant involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, but provided no immediate evidence. The military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because the militants fight in densely populated, urban areas. However, the army rarely comments on what its individual attacks target, which often kill women and children.

In nine months of bombing and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 38,200 people and injured over 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Almost the entire population has been driven from their homes. Many have been relocated several times. Hundreds of thousands are crammed into sweltering tent camps.

The Israeli attack was triggered by Hamas’ cross-border raid on October 7, in which the fighters killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The fighters took around 250 people hostage. Around 120 of them are still in captivity, and around a third are said to be dead.

READ MORE: The destruction in Gaza prompted Hamas to soften its calls for a ceasefire, several officials say.

This week, Israeli troops also carried out a new ground attack in Gaza City in the north of the territory – their latest attempt to combat the regrouping of Hamas fighters in areas that the army said had previously been largely cleared.

Large parts of Gaza City and the surrounding urban areas have been razed or left a devastated landscape by previous Israeli attacks, and much of the population fled at the beginning of the war. But the recent incursions and bombings have sparked a new wave of refugees.

After Israel called for the evacuation of eastern and central parts of Gaza on Monday, staff at two hospitals – Al-Ahli Hospital and Patients Friends Association Hospital – immediately began transferring patients and then closed their operations, the United Nations said.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had not had to evacuate hospitals and other medical facilities in Gaza City. But hospitals in Gaza have often closed and transferred patients at any sign of possible Israeli military action for fear of attacks.

Over the past nine months, Israeli forces have attacked at least eight hospitals, killing patients and medical staff and causing massive destruction of facilities and equipment. Israel claims Hamas is using the hospitals for military purposes, but has provided limited evidence to support this.

According to the United Nations humanitarian office, only 13 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are functioning, and even then only partially.

International mediators are making renewed concerted efforts to push through a proposed ceasefire.

An Egyptian official said Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel traveled to Doha to attend talks on the deal. The official said U.S. and Israeli officials were also present. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press on the meetings.

The day before, CIA Director William Burns, who led the American mediation, met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo.

Obstacles to the talks remain, even after Hamas agreed to back down from its central demand that Israel commit to ending the war as part of any agreement. Hamas continues to demand that mediators ensure that the negotiations end with a permanent ceasefire.

Israel has rejected any agreement that would force it to end the war with Hamas. Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of putting “further obstacles in the way of negotiations,” including operations in Gaza City.

Magdy reported from Cairo.