Gaza rescuers say 23 dead in latest Israeli strikes

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people according to rescuers, nearly 15 months into its war of aggression against the Palestinian territory.

The latest deaths come after Israel late on Saturday said indirect negotiations had resumed in Qatar for a truce and hostage release deal.

An air strike on a house in northern Gaza's Sheikh Radwan area killed at least 11 people early Sunday, according to Civil Defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal. He said the victims included women and children.

"Rescuers are still searching for five people trapped under the rubble of the house," he said, adding his crew members were using "bare hands" in the effort.

The Israeli military said Sunday it had struck more than 100 "terror targets" in Gaza over the past two days, marking an apparent escalation in its assault.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said a total of 88 people were killed over the previous 24 hours.

In one strike, five people died when the house of the Abu Jarbou family was struck in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, rescuers said.

AFP footage from another strike showed rescuers transporting bodies and injured people to a hospital.

In one scene, a medic attempted to resuscitate a wounded man inside an ambulance, while another carried an injured child to the hospital.

Relatives cried over the bodies of two men wrapped in white shrouds, the images showed.


Warning to Hizbollah

Israel's military offensive has killed 45,805 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which the United Nations finds reliable.

In a related development, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah movement, accusing it of violating ceasefire terms that halted their war on November 27.

He stated that Hizbollah had still not withdrawn "beyond the Litani River" in southern Lebanon, as stipulated in the ceasefire deal.

"If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of residents of the north to their homes," Katz said.

On Saturday, Hizbollah chief Naim Qassem accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement, which the United States and France help to monitor. Qassem said Hezbollah was prepared to respond even before the expiry of a 60-day deadline for Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon.

Almost two weeks ago, UN peacekeepers and Lebanon's prime minister called on Israel's army to speed up its withdrawal from southern Lebanon.