War between Israel and Hamas: 13 Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes in central Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — Palestinian health officials said at least 13 people were killed in three Israeli airstrikes on refugee camps in central Gaza overnight Saturday, as ceasefire talks in Cairo appeared to be making progress.

Among the dead in Nuseirat refugee camp and Bureij refugee camp were three children and a woman, according to Palestinian rescue teams who transported the bodies to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital. The 13 bodies were counted by AP journalists at the hospital.

The latest casualties follow a rare moment of hope in war-ravaged Gaza after a medical team recovered the living baby of a heavily pregnant Palestinian mother who was killed in an airstrike on her home in Nuseirat late Thursday night.

Heavily pregnant Ola al-Kurd, 25, was killed along with six others in the blast, but rescue workers rushed her to Al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza in hopes of saving the unborn child. Hours later, doctors told the Associated Press that a baby boy had been born.

The newborn, whose name has not yet been released, is in stable condition but is suffering from oxygen deprivation and has been placed in an incubator, said Dr. Khalil Dajran. The baby’s father was injured in the same attack but survived.

The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 38,900 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian coastal territory, displacing most of its 2.3 million residents and causing widespread hunger.

The Hamas attack in October left 1,200 people dead, most of them civilians, and about 250 were taken hostage by the terrorists. About 120 people are still in captivity, and about a third of them are said to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.

According to health authorities in the Gaza Strip, the war between Israel and Hamas has claimed the lives of thousands of women and children. A premature Palestinian baby was born in April. rescued from the womb but died days later.

In Cairo, international mediators, including the United States, continue to push for a phased agreement between Israel and Hamas that would end the fighting and release about 120 hostages in the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, which would see the release of Israeli hostages held by the terrorist group in Gaza, was “within the 10-yard line.” But he added: “We know that everything is most difficult in the last 10 yards.”

Since the week-long ceasefire in November, negotiations between the warring sides have been inconclusive and halting, with Hamas and Israel repeatedly accusing each other of thwarting efforts to reach an agreement.

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Jeffery reported from the West Bank city of Ramallah.