Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 82 people as negotiations between Israel and Hamas towards a ceasefire deal begin in Qatar.
On Sunday, at least 39 people were killed in Gaza City alone. A midnight attack on the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in the region also trapped victims under debris.
Witnesses have described apocalyptic scenes as neighbours retrieve body parts, including those of children.
Mahmoud al-Sheikh Salama, a survivor of one strike, said it took place at 2am (23:00 GMT on Saturday) while he was sleeping.
“We heard a loud explosion and shortly after, another one. We rushed over… and people were trapped under the rubble – four families, a large number of residents,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We tried to search for survivors and managed to pull out two people alive from under the debris after about three hours of struggle and breaking through. We got two out alive – the rest were martyred and are still trapped.”
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said Israel’s current military escalation in Gaza is “a chilling and brutal reminder” of the opening weeks of the war because of the intensity and scale of each attack.
“In the span of two hours, we have counted at least seven air strikes across the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“A local community kitchen in the northern part of Deir el-Balah was also struck and three people were killed, including the main operator behind it.”
Attacks near aid sites
Besides Gaza City, medical sources at hospitals told Al Jazeera that at least nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire near aid distribution centres operated by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since the morning.
Five were killed near the Netzarim Corridor, located just south of Gaza City, which splits the Strip down the middle. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Israeli forces killed at least 743 Palestinians in attacks at sites run by the GHF since late May.
The GHF has drawn widespread criticism, with multiple reports that its contractors, as well as Israeli forces, have opened fire on desperate aid seekers. Two American contractors were wounded with non-life-threatening injuries on Saturday during an attack on an aid site.
“The attack – which preliminary information indicates was carried out by two assailants who threw two grenades at the Americans – occurred at the conclusion of an otherwise successful distribution in which thousands of Gazans safely received food,” the GHF said.
The United States on Saturday blamed Hamas for the attack. Gaza’s Government Media Office rejected these accusations.
“We categorically and unequivocally reject the claims issued by the US State Department alleging that the Palestinian resistance threw explosives at American personnel operating at sites run by the so-called ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – GHF,’” the media office said in a statement.
Possible ceasefire?
Meanwhile, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas towards a ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip have begun in Qatar.
“Negotiations are about implementation mechanisms and hostage exchange, and positions are being exchanged through mediators,” an unnamed official told the AFP news agency.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that there is “a good chance” a Gaza captive release and ceasefire deal could be reached with Hamas this week, “as they’re close”.
Trump told reporters such a deal meant “quite a few hostages” could be released. Trump is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday at the White House.
The US president said last week that Israel has agreed to the conditions for a 60-day ceasefire, and negotiators could meet to carve out a path to finally end Israel’s nearly 21-month war on Gaza.
On Friday, Hamas said it responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit”.
On Sunday, before boarding his flight to Washington, DC, Netanyahu also said he believed his discussions with Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza deal.
“I believe the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance these results,” he said, adding that he is determined to ensure the return of captives held in Gaza and remove the threat of Hamas to Israel.
Analysts, however, say that Netanyahu wants to continue the retaliatory war on Gaza until he can gain enough political leverage to dismiss the court cases against him in Israel and build enough popular support to remain the country’s leader.
Netanyahu is on trial for corruption and is still widely blamed in Israeli society for the security failures that led to Hamas’s deadly attack on October 7, 2023.
“Israel and Netanyahu are not interested in reaching a ceasefire,” Adnan Hayajneh, a professor of international relations at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera, adding that there is a “very slim chance” of a ceasefire.
“What Israel wants is clear… a land without a people,” Hayajneh said.
“So, Palestinians are given three choices… starve to death… get killed… [or] leave the land. But Palestinians have so far proven they will not leave the land, no matter what.”