Israeli Airstrikes In Gaza Kill At Least 21, Hospital Workers Say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 21 people, including at least two children, on Saturday in Gaza, hospital staff said, while a new effort at ceasefire talks was underway in Qatar after nearly 15 months of war.

Thousands rallied again in Israel to press for a ceasefire deal, hours after Hamas released a video showing one of the hostages still held in Gaza. Such videos, like an uptick in airstrikes, have been seen as attempts to assert pressure during talks.

A small boy cried over his father in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, and a woman draped herself over one of the bodies wrapped in white plastic. Three airstrikes in the city hit a car, a house and people on the street, according to staff at Nasser Hospital.

The Civil Defense, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-run government, said an airstrike destroyed a residential area behind the Saraya complex in Gaza City, killing at least five people.

And Israeli strikes on Saturday evening killed three people in Bureij and three others in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were taken. One child was among the dead. A young man leaned against a hospital wall and wept.

Israel’s military said it targeted Hamas militants with a strike near Salah al-Din in southern Gaza overnight and with a strike on a vehicle in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. It also said Hamas fired a projectile that hit near the Erez crossing into Gaza.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 59 people had been killed and more than 270 others were wounded by strikes in the past 24 hours.

There were no immediate statements on the indirect negotiations toward a ceasefire. The talks have repeatedly stalled as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to press on in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed. Fighters with Hamas, which wants Israeli forces out of Gaza completely, continue to regroup in areas where Israeli forces withdraw.

The talks are mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, which plans a $8 billion weapons sale to Israel, U.S. officials say.