Israel strikes Gaza as Blinken tries to help close a cease-fire deal

Deir Al-Balah, Aug 18: Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 24 people overnight and into Sunday, including a woman and her six children, local health officials said, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the region to try to seal a cease-fire deal after months of negotiations.
The US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar said they were closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas has signalled resistance to what it says are new demands by Israel, and the long-running talks have repeatedly stalled.
The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its October 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.
The mediators hope to end a war that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the territory’s 2.3 million residents and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Experts have warned of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio.
Quadruplets among six children killed in Gaza
The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike early Sunday on a home in the central town of Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the bodies.
Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children’s grandfather, said his daughter, a schoolteacher, was with her husband and their six children when their house was struck. He said the children ranged in age from 18 months to 15 years, and included quadruplets. He said the father was hospitalized after the strike.
“The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” he told reporters outside the hospital. “What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? … Will this provide security to Israel?” A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments in a residential building, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Another two strikes in central Gaza killed nine people, according to Al-Awda Hospital. Late Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital. (AP)