KEY POINTS
- Israeli strikes kill 18 across the Gaza Strip
- Total death toll in Gaza surpasses 51,300 since October 2023
RAMALLAH, Palestine: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday asked Hamas to release all Israeli hostages held in Gaza, saying that their continued captivity was being used by Israel as justification for killing innocent civilians in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Meanwhile, at least 18 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip.
Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza on March 18, effectively ending the ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities and led to the release of 33 hostages from Gaza, along with around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody.
In a major development, Germany, France, and Britain have asked Israel to end the siege of Gaza and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged territory.
Efforts aimed at reaching a new ceasefire have so far failed to produce any breakthroughs, while the Hamas delegation is currently in Cairo for renewed negotiations with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
“Hamas has given the criminal occupation excuses to commit its crimes in the Gaza Strip, the most prominent being the holding of hostages,” Abbas said at a meeting in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“I’m the one paying the price, our people are paying the price, not Israel. My brother, just hand them over,” he said.
Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have frequently accused Hamas of weakening Palestinian unity, while Hamas has in turn criticised the PA for cooperating with Israel and suppressing dissent in the West Bank.
Hamas has said it would release all captives in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent end to the war, but has dismissed Israel’s demand to disarm, calling it a red line.
Charred bodies
Gaza’s civil defence agency on Wednesday said its crew recovered charred bodies from a school-turned-shelter for displaced people, as Israeli strikes killed 17 Palestinians since dawn.
“Seventeen Palestinians have been killed since dawn,” Gaza’s civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
“The school was housing displaced people. The bombing sparked a massive blaze, and several charred bodies have since been recovered,” he said, describing the attack on Yaffa school in the Al-Tuffa neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Since the war resumed in Gaza, at least 1,928 Palestinians have been killed, taking the total death toll above 51,300, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
