Israeli attacks continue as Gaza death toll set to pass 30,000

At least 86 Palestinians were killed and 131 others injured over the last 24 hours in Israeli attacks in the Gaza City on Sunday, medical sources and eyewitnesses said.

Territory's Health Ministry said on Sunday that fifteen people, including children, were killed and several others were wounded after warplanes hit a residential building in the Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.

The death toll in Gaza is likely to pass the grim milestone of 30,000 this week, as negotiators try to pin down a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, and the Israeli government presses ahead with plans for an attack on Rafah.

Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 29,692 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 69,879 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in central Gaza Strip. Reuters

According to Israel's state-owned Kan TV news, the Israeli army has been conducting operations in the neighbourhood since February 20, targeting infrastructures belonging to the Hamas movement.

On the same day, 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the coastal road west of the Gaza City.

Local sources and eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces launched artillery shells and conducted airstrikes targeting individuals waiting for aid trucks, killing 10 of them and injuring others.

The prime minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, convened the war cabinet late on Saturday for a briefing with negotiators who had been at talks in Paris.

This week, it will meet again to discuss preparations for an assault on Rafah, the southern border town where an estimated 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. A deal might delay that operation, but would not prevent it, Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS.

Negotiators from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the US have agreed the “basic contours” of an arrangement during weekend talks in Paris, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN, but the final details still have to be hammered out.

Agencies