Latest Gaza deaths include dozens waiting for aid
Israel's military did not have immediate comment on the strikes.
Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organisation backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip's population, while 33 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.
Dozens of people were killed in air strikes that pounded the enclave on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.
Gaza's health ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.
The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.
Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.
But Hamas's response, which emphasised its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could become an actual pause in fighting.
The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas.
The military said it targeted Hamas militants and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting.
More than 90 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times.
The war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of people hungry.
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Hamas is seeking guarantees that a new US-backed ceasefire proposal for Gaza would lead to the war's end, as Israeli strikes across the territory kill scores more people. Israeli officials on Thursday said prospects for reaching a ceasefire and hostage deal appeared high, nearly 21 months since the war between Israel and Hamas began. Efforts for a Gaza truce gathered steam after the US secured a ceasefire to end a 12-day aerial conflict between Israel and Iran, but on the ground in Gaza intensified Israeli strikes continued unabated, killing at least 59 people on Thursday, according to health authorities in the territory. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalise a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties will work to end the war. Hamas is seeking clear guarantees that the ceasefire will eventually lead to the war's end, the source close to the group said. Two Israeli officials said those details were still being worked out. In a statement early on Friday, Hamas said it was discussing the ceasefire proposal with other Palestinian factions and would submit its response to mediators once those talks conclude. Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been working to secure US and international guarantees that talks on ending the war would continue as a way of convincing Hamas to accept a two-month truce proposal, Egyptian security sources said. A senior Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said preparations were in place to approve a ceasefire deal. A separate source familiar with the matter said that Israel was expecting Hamas' response by Friday and that if it was positive, an Israeli delegation would join indirect talks to cement the deal. The proposal includes the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the return of the bodies of 18 more in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, an official familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. Of the 50 remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 are believed to still be alive. Aid would enter Gaza immediately, and the Israeli military would carry out a phased withdrawal from parts of the enclave, according to the proposal. Negotiations would immediately start on a permanent ceasefire. In Gaza, there was no sign of immediate relief on Thursday. According to medics at Nasser Hospital, at least 20 people were killed by Israeli fire en route to an aid distribution site. Farther north, at least 17 people were killed in an Israeli strike at a school in Gaza City, according to medics. The Israeli military said it targeted a key Hamas gunman operating there and that it took precautions to reduce risk to civilians. "Suddenly, we found the tent collapsing over us and a fire burning. We don't know what happened," one witness, Wafaa Al-Arqan, who was among the people sheltering there, told Reuters. "What can we do? Is it fair that all these children burned?" The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than two million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins. Israel says it won't end the war while Hamas is still armed and ruling Gaza. Hamas, severely weakened, says it won't lay down its weapons but is willing to release all the hostages still in Gaza if Israel ends the war.
