No sooner had mediators signaled a potential cease-fire deal to win freedom for the remaining hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza, than an Israeli airstrike killed 18 members of the same family in the territory.
On Friday, a U.S. official speaking anonymously said that mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar had hammered out a proposal bridging gaps between each side’s demands. An “implementation cell” was being created in advance of a meeting next week in Cairo to finesse the details and logistics, the official said. That would include bringing the hostages home and providing humanitarian aid for Gaza.
On Saturday, Israeli bombs rained down on a house and warehouse holding more than 40 displaced civilians sheltering there, neighbor Abu Ahmed told The Associated Press. The strike killed wholesaler Sami Jawad al-Ejlah, who was working with the Israeli military to procure meat and fish for the besieged territory, and 18 members of his family. Both his wives, 11 of their children aged 2 to 22, their grandmother, and three other relatives also perished, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told AP.
“He was a peaceful man,” Ahmed said.
Israel said it was aiming at “terrorist infrastructure.”
Amid a looming polio outbreak in Gaza and 40,000 deaths, the 10-month-long war is poised to expand throughout the region. About 110 hostages are still being held in Gaza out of 250 who were taken last Oct. 7, when Hamas overran the border and massacred about 1,200 people, kidnapping scores of others. About 100 hostages were freed during breaks in the fighting late last year, and as many as a third of those still held may be dead, according to Israeli estimates.
“We need a cease-fire to get them all back,” said Zahiro Shahar Mor, whose 78-year-old uncle, Avraham Munder, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his wife, his daughter and grandson. The last three were later released, but Munder is still in Gaza.
Mor and others have begun pointing fingers at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of prioritizing his own political survival over the plight of their loved ones.
In addition to getting the hostages home, the mediation efforts are an attempt to calm the region down as Iran and Hezbollah militants threaten revenge on Israel for its recent assassinations of some of their militant leaders.
With News Wire Services