Israel kills senior Hamas commander in Gaza airstrike: war continues, amid ceasefire talks
The Israeli military says it has killed a senior Hamas commander in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip.
Hakham al-Issa, described as one of the founders of the Palestinian Islamist group and a leading figure in its military wing, was said to have been involved in planning and executing the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.
The attacks triggered Israel's ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza. More than 56,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the sealed-off territory, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
According to the Israeli military, al-Issa was one of the last remaining high-ranking Hamas commanders in Gaza.
He most recently served as chief of staff for the group's 'combat and administrative support division'.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed at least 72 people across Gaza overnight into Saturday local time, health workers said, as ceasefire prospects were said to be improving after 21 months of war.
Three children and their parents were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp in Muwasi near the southern city of Khan Younis. They were struck while sleeping, relatives said.
'What did these children do to them? What is their fault?' said the children's grandmother, Suad Abu Teima, as others knelt to kiss their bloodied faces and wept. Some placed red flowers into the body bags.
Also among the dead were 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more in apartments, according to staff at Shifa Hospital. More than 20 bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital, according to health officials.
A midday strike killed 11 people on a street in eastern Gaza City, and their bodies were taken to Al-Ahli Hospital.
US President Donald Trump says there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters, he said, 'We're working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.'
An official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will arrive in Washington next week for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other subjects.
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas have been on again, off again since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the territory's dire humanitarian crisis.
Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half believed to still be alive. They were among 251 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
Meanwhile, hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for two-and-a-half months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May.
More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded while seeking food since the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing aid in the territory about a month ago, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on roads heading toward the sites. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots and it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.
Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the sites, moving through Israeli military zones.
Separate efforts by the United Nations to distribute limited food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys.
The latest death toll included two people killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim corridor, a road that separates northern and southern Gaza, according to Al-Shifa and Al-Awda hospitals, which each received one body.
There was no immediate Israeli military comment.
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Trump raised expectations on Friday for a deal, saying there could be an agreement within the next week. Trump has repeatedly called for Israel and Hamas to end the war. An eight-week ceasefire was reached just as he took office earlier this year but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps. Some Palestinians greeted the possibility of a new truce with scepticism after watching the last ceasefire shattered. "Since the beginning of the war, they have been promising us something like this: release the hostages and we will stop the war," said Abdel Hadi Al-Hour. "They did not stop the war." Trump also doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it "a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT". In the post on Saturday evening, Trump said the trial interfered with ceasefire talks, saying Netanyahu "is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back". Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point - whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement. Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi accused Netanyahu of stalling progress on a deal, saying on social media that the Israeli leader insists on a temporary agreement that would free just 10 of the hostages. About 50 hostages remain, with less than half believed to be alive. Netanyahu spokesman Omer Dostri said that "Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war," without addressing Merdawi's claim. During a visit on Sunday to to Israel's internal security service Shin Bet, Netanyahu said that the Israel-Iran war and subsequent ceasefire have opened many opportunities: "First of all, to rescue the hostages. Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks." Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something that the group refuses. The war in the enclave began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 in which militants killed 1200 people and took about 250 hostage. Gaza's Health Ministry on Sunday said that another 88 people have been killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, raising the war's toll among Palestinians to 56,500. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead are women and children. The war has displaced most of the Gaza Strip's population, often multiple times, obliterated much of the territory's urban landscape and left people overwhelmingly reliant on outside aid, which Israel has limited since the end of the latest ceasefire.
