Israel says it is open to deal that includes "ending the fighting" in Gaza as brutal assault continues
Doha, Qatar - Israel signaled Sunday that it was open to striking a deal with Hamas that included "ending the fighting" in Gaza, where rescuers reported dozens killed a day after Israel stepped up its attacks.
Amid the escalated assault, Israel and Hamas were entering indirect talks in Qatar that the Palestinian group said were aimed at ending the war.
In a statement on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that "even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal – whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting," referring to US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff who has been involved in previous discussions.
Such a deal, according to Netanyahu's statement, "would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip."
Ever since a two-month ceasefire fell apart in March as Israel resumed its assault, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US have failed to reach a breakthrough.
Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said on Saturday that the talks in Doha had kicked off "without any preconditions from either side."
A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations said that "positions are being exchanged by both sides in an attempt at bridging perspectives," adding the group was approaching the talks with "great flexibility."
Palestinians mourn loved ones killed by Israel
On the ground, civil defense spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP on Sunday that 22 people were killed and at least 100 others wounded in a predawn attack on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Al-Mawasi, in the southern Gaza Strip.
AFPTV footage showed people sifting through the wreckage of ruined shelters and rescuers treating the wounded.
At a hospital in nearby Khan Younis city, young men mourned over the shrouded bodies of loved ones laid out on the ground outside.
"All my family members are gone. There is no one left," said a distraught Warda al-Shaer standing amid the wreckage in Al-Mawasi. "The children were killed as well as their parents. My mother died too, and my niece lost her eye."
Bassal said that the "series of violent Israeli air strikes" across Gaza overnight and in the early morning resulted in a total of "at least 33 martyrs, more than half of whom were children."
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel's intensified assault comes as international concern has mounted over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza due to a brutal blockade on aid imposed on March 2, which Human Rights Watch has described as a "tool of extermination."
UN chief Antonio Guterres, addressing an Arab League summit in Baghdad on Saturday, said he was "alarmed" at the escalation and called for "a permanent ceasefire, now."
The summit's final statement urged the international community "to exert pressure to end the bloodshed."
Israel accused of laying siege to Gaza hospital
In Tel Aviv, demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Netanyahu's government and demand it strike a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
"Instead of bringing them all home by agreeing to the deal that is on the table, Netanyahu is dragging us into a needless political war that will lead to the death of the hostages and soldiers," said protester Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of slain hostage Avraham Munder.
Israel has faced increasing pressure to lift its aid blockade, as UN agencies warn of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.
On Sunday, the health ministry in Gaza accused Israel of laying siege to the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, where it said "a state of panic and confusion is prevailing."
The ministry later said Israel had cut off the arrival of patients and staff, "effectively forcing the hospital out of service."
With "the shutdown of the Indonesian Hospital, all public hospitals in the North Gaza Governorate are now out of service," it said.
The Gaza health ministry said that at least 3,193 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the overall death toll to 53,339 – though the true number is believed to be far higher.
Cover photo: Eyad BABA / AFP