Israel attacks Gaza City amid attempts to reach ceasefire deal

Ten killed in Israeli attack on a house in Gaza City as the US says negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza are continuing.

At least 14 people have been killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza this morning, including 10 when Israeli fighter jets bombed a residential building in Gaza City, amid reports of ceasefire talks inching closer to an agreement.

The attack in Gaza City targeted the Tabatibi family home in the Daraj neighbourhood. Footage showed fires burning in the aftermath of the attack as rescue workers searched for survivors amid the rubble.

Local media reported that the family had fled the house, which was located in the eastern part of Gaza City.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the house was targeted without any prior warning.

“Civil Defence workers confirmed that the vast majority of bodies were shredded to pieces,” Abu Azzoum said.

This morning, Al Jazeera’s correspondents on the ground also reported fighting in Rafah’s al-Janina neighbourhood as well as Israeli helicopters shooting east of the southern Gaza city.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a ceasefire as it warned of “appalling” conditions in one of northern Gaza’s only functioning hospitals.

“The conditions in the hospital are simply appalling,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, a city witnessing intense attacks by the Israeli military. “We urge for the protection of health care and for this hell to stop! Ceasefire!”

WHO and partners reached the facility “two days ago, amid hostilities and explosions in the vicinity of the hospital during the mission”, Tedros added in a post on X, after efforts to deliver needed supplies were repeatedly hampered by the Israeli army.

The mission reached the hospital on November 30 after weeks of unsuccessful attempts, but days later it was forced to flee amid attacks and hostilities around the facility.

Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said Israeli snipers also attacked the hospital’s intensive care unit.

“This development is very serious and something new for us,” he said. “We cannot stay in this place which is meant to provide ICU services. At the same time, we can’t evacuate and move to another place.”

He added that power generators were hit again, causing a power outage. Bombs launched from quadcopters also kept targeting the hospital’s premises.

Ceasefire deal close?

On Monday, Israel’s Minister of Defence Israel Katz said negotiators had never been closer to a deal since the November 2023 agreement.

Hamas said it would not accept anything less than a complete and permanent cessation of the war, a full withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced and a prisoner exchange deal.

In previous rounds, disagreements over new demands that Israel introduced about its future military presence in Gaza obstructed a deal, even after Hamas accepted a version of the proposal Biden introduced in May.

A round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal.

Late on Monday, Netanyahu’s office said the PM held a meeting with Adam Boehler, Donald Trump’s designated envoy, to reach a deal on the captives’ release.

Seven individuals with US citizenship remain in Gaza, with four confirmed dead, Israeli officials say.

Netanyahu also spoke with Trump over the weekend regarding Israel’s efforts to secure the release of the captives.

On Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also said negotiations had been productive in recent days but that differences remained.