Mideast fighting goes on amid optimism over cease-fire talks
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israel airstrike in Gaza killed at least 18 people on Saturday, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where casualties were taken. The strike came hours after mediators expressed optimism for an imminent cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas after 10 months of war.
The Israeli military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, said it struck “terrorist infrastructure” in central Gaza where rockets had been fired toward Israel in recent weeks. It said it was continuing attacks on terrorists in central Gaza.
A joint statement by mediators the United States, Egypt and Qatar after two days of talks said a proposal to bridge gaps was presented and they expect to work out implementation details this week in Cairo.
An Israeli official said a delegation was set to travel to Cairo on Sunday to continue talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the sensitive talks with the media.
But Hamas has cast doubt on whether an agreement was near, saying the latest proposal diverged significantly from a previous iteration they had accepted in principle.
The mediation efforts aim to secure the release of scores of Israeli hostages and stop the fighting in Gaza, where a possible polio outbreak is feared. Talks are also meant to calm regional tensions that have threatened to explode into a wider war if Iran and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon attack Israel in retaliation for recent killings of militant leaders.
An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon early Saturday killed at least 10 Syrian nationals, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Hezbollah later announced it had fired a volley of rockets at the community of Ayelet HaShahar, near Safad in northern Israel in retaliation for the strike.
The Israeli army said 55 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon, some of which fell in open areas. No injuries were reported, but the strikes ignited multiple fires, it said. Earlier Saturday, two Israeli soldiers were injured, one seriously, by a strike coming from Lebanon that hit the area of Misgav Am.
The Israeli military also said it had killed a Hezbollah commander Saturday in a separate strike in the area of the coastal city of Tyre.
