Israeli airstrikes killed at least 153 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip over 24 hours, health authorities said Sunday, looming over a new round of cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has expanded its strikes on the enclave, killing hundreds of people since Thursday, in preparation for a new ground offensive to achieve "operational control" in parts of Gaza.
"Relentless Israeli strikes claimed the lives of 153 people across the enclave," Munir al-Bursh, the director-general of Gaza's Health Ministry, told Anadolu.
He said Israeli warplanes stepped up airstrikes since Sunday dawn, leaving 106 people dead.
"The Israeli army is practicing the most brutal forms of ethnic cleansing and genocide" against Palestinian civilians, he added.
The death toll came as Israeli drones also targeted the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza's Jabalia.
"The (Israeli) occupation is besieging the hospital with drones and shooting at anyone who moves," hospital director Marwan Sultan said in a statement.
He said one patient was injured by Israeli fire in the hospital's vicinity.
Israel has also blocked the entry of all aid, including medical, food and fuel supplies, into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
Hamas says it will only free the hostages in return for an Israeli cease-fire.
Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, began a new round of indirect cease-fire talks between the two sides on Saturday, but sources close to the negotiations told Reuters there had been no breakthrough.
Britain's Sky News Arabica and the BBC both reported overnight that Hamas had proposed releasing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month cease-fire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Contacted by Reuters, a Hamas official said: "Israel's position is unchanged, they want their prisoners released, without a commitment to end the war."
Potentially complicating the cease-fire talks further, reports in Israeli and Arab media said the brother of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar may have been killed.
Hamas neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Israel's Defense Ministry had no immediate comment.
In Israel, Einav Zangauker, the mother of Hamas hostage Matan Zangauker, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was refusing to end the war in exchange for Hamas releasing the remaining hostages because of his political interests.
"The Israeli government still insists on only partial deals. They are deliberately tormenting us. Bring our children back already! All 58 of them," Zangauker said in a post on the X social media platform.
One of Israel's overnight strikes hit a tent encampment housing displaced families in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing women and children, wounding dozens and setting several tents ablaze.
Hamas described the strike as a "new brutal crime" and blamed the U.S. administration for the escalation.
Among the dozens killed earlier on Sunday were five journalists, some with their families.
Zakaria al-Sinwar, the brother of the Hamas leader and three of his children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their tent in central Gaza, medics said. He was a history lecturer at a Gaza university.
Both men are the brothers of former Hamas chief Yehya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel last October.
Gaza's health care system is barely operational because of repeated Israeli bombardment and raids on hospitals.
The blockade on aid supplies has compounded its difficulties and worsened widespread hunger, for which Israel blames Hamas.
"Hospitals are overwhelmed with a growing number of casualties, many are children," Deqran said.
Staff at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, urged people to donate blood because of the overwhelming number of casualties. Hospital officials said they received 40 dead and dozens of wounded overnight because of the continued Israeli strikes.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 75% of its ambulances had stopped operating because of fuel shortages amid Israel's ban on imports. It warned that unless fuel is allowed back within 72 hours, all vehicles may stop.
Israel's declared goal in Gaza is the elimination of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, incursion caused about 1,200 deaths and took about 250 hostages.
The Israeli military campaign has devastated the enclave, pushing nearly all residents from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
