Dozens of Israeli strikes pounded the Gaza Strip over the weekend as Israeli and Hamas officials resumed indirect cease-fire talks through mediators in Qatar.
Israel’s military said on Sunday that it had hit more than 100 targets across the enclave over the weekend, including sites from which militants had fired projectiles toward Israeli territory. It said the strikes had killed Hamas militants and that the military had taken measures to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. The claims could not be independently verified.
The Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 88 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes over the last 24 hours. The Gaza Civil Defense, an emergency services agency, said that its crews had responded to multiple airstrikes on family homes on Sunday in which several people were killed and wounded.
Pressure has been mounting on both sides to reach a cease-fire agreement that would include the release of hostages held in Gaza before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
On Friday night, Hamas said its officials would resume meetings in the Qatari capital of Doha to reach a cease-fire deal. And Israel said last week that it was also sending a delegation of midlevel security officials to meet with mediators in Qatar.
Numerous earlier rounds of negotiations have faltered amid gaps in the two sides’ demands. And as hopes for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas rise again, Palestinians and human rights organizations say the humanitarian situation in Gaza is getting even more desperate.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Sunday that overnight Israeli airstrikes near Al-Amal Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis caused significant damage to several hospital facilities and killed one person.
And Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday that the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza was no longer providing services to patients or the wounded — leaving the northern part of the enclave without any functioning hospitals amid constant bombardment.
Israel’s military has been mounting an offensive in northern Gaza for more than three months against what it says is a resurgent Hamas force.
Aaron Boxerman contributed to this report.
