Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza after Blinken ends visit with truce deal still elusive By Reuters

Written by Nidal Al-Maghribi and James Mackenzie

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 50 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, Palestinian health authorities said on Wednesday, as the military said its forces continued to target militants and seize weapons and ammunition.

As the latest diplomatic efforts to halt the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas continued, the Israeli military said its aircraft struck about 30 targets across the Gaza Strip, including tunnels, launch sites and an observation post.

It said the forces killed dozens of militants and seized weapons including explosives, hand grenades and automatic rifles.

The army issued new evacuation orders in the densely populated Deir al-Balah area in central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the fighting have sought shelter.

The evacuation orders, which the military said were necessary to remove civilians from what had become a “dangerous combat zone,” were quickly followed by tank fire that killed at least one person and wounded several others with machine gun fire, medics and residents said.

The conflict continued as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his latest visit to the Middle East with no clear indication of whether an agreement was in sight to end the fighting.

At stake in Blinken’s talks with ceasefire mediators in Egypt and Qatar, as well as in Israel, is the fate of the small, crowded Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 40,000 people since October according to Palestinian health authorities, and the fate of the remaining hostages held there.

The war in Gaza began on October 7 of last year when Hamas militants stormed Israeli communities and military bases, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli statistics.

For the displaced left vulnerable in Deir al-Balah, the lack of progress towards a ceasefire has compounded the misery as they seek space away from the fighting.

“Where will we go? Where will we go?” said Abu Rakan, 55, a displaced person from Gaza City in the northern part of the Strip, who has had to change his residence five times since October.

“We feel they are getting closer. I live hundreds of metres away from the threatened areas and have been searching since early morning in vain for a place in western Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis or Nusseirat,” he told Reuters via a chat app.

“Unfortunately, we may die before we see an end to this war. All talk of a ceasefire is a lie.”

Palestinian officials and the United Nations say most of the Strip’s 2.3 million residents have been internally displaced by the ongoing Israeli military offensive and bombardment, which has also destroyed large swaths of built-up areas across the territory.