Deadly Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Saturday as the US secretary of state was set to visit Israel aiming to finalise a Gaza truce agreement, which diplomats say could avert a wider regional conflagration.
Civil defence rescuers said an Israeli air strike killed 15 people from a single Palestinian family. The fatalities in Al-Zawaida helped push the Gaza health ministry鈥檚 war death toll to 40,074.
鈥榃e are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered,鈥� said Omar al-Dreemli, a relative.
The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants has displaced most of the territory鈥檚 population, destroyed much of the housing and other infrastructure, and left diseases spreading.
The United Nations on Friday appealed for seven-day pauses in the fighting so it could vaccinate children against polio, after the Palestinian health ministry reported Gaza鈥檚 first polio case in 25 years.
鈥榃e are closer than we have ever been鈥� to a ceasefire in the Gaza war, US President Joe Biden said on Friday, though previous optimism during months of on-off talks has so far proven futile.
Hamas said Friday it rejected 鈥榥ew conditions鈥� in a Gaza ceasefire proposal that US-led mediators presented during two days of talks in Qatar.
On Saturday a senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Biden鈥檚 comment is an 鈥榠llusion鈥�.
The stakes have significantly risen since the killings in quick succession in late July of Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief of Hezbollah in south Lebanon, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Their deaths led to vows of vengeance from Hezbollah, Iran and other Tehran-backed groups in the region which blamed Israel.
On Friday Hezbollah released a polished video appearing to show its fighters trucking large missiles through tunnels at an underground facility.
Israel claimed the killing of Shukr, in a strike on south Beirut, but has not commented directly on the killing of Haniyeh while he visited Tehran.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken will leave on Saturday for Israel and seek to 鈥榗onclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees鈥�, the State Department said.
With a deal 鈥榥ow in sight, no one in the region should take actions to undermine this process,鈥� Biden said.
Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators are working to finalise details of a framework ceasefire and hostage-release deal initially outlined by Biden in May. He said Israel had proposed it.
In a joint statement after two days of talks in Qatar, the mediators said they presented both sides with a proposal that 鈥榖ridges remaining gaps鈥�.
Talks aiming to secure a deal are to resume in Cairo 鈥榖efore the end of next week鈥�, they said.
Hamas did not attend the Doha talks. An official of the Islamist movement, Osama Hamdan, told AFP on Thursday the group would join if the meeting set a timetable for implementing what Hamas had already agreed to.
A prospective cessation of hostilities has centred around a phased deal beginning with an initial truce.
On Friday, officials told AFP that Hamas will not accept 鈥榥ew conditions鈥� from Israel.
Foreign minister Ayman Safadi of Jordan, a Western ally, blamed Netanyahu for 鈥榠mpeding attempts to finalise鈥� a deal and urged pressure on him.
Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday met his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne in Cairo for talks on 鈥榗ontaining the escalation and efforts to reach a ceasefire,鈥� Egypt鈥檚 foreign ministry spokesman said.
Netanyahu has denied being the obstacle to a deal, blaming Hamas.
