Israeli fire and airstrikes kill 41 in Gaza

Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 41 Palestinians across Gaza Sunday, local health authorities said, at least five of them near two aid sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Medics at Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza Strip said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the Netzarim corridor. Two others were killed en route to another aid site in Rafah in the south.

An airstrike killed seven other people in Beit Lahiya town north of the enclave, medics said. In Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip, medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 11 people in a house. The rest were killed in separate airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip, they added.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a near three-month total blockade. Scores of Palestinians have been killed in near-daily mass shootings trying to reach the food.

The Israeli military said that this week it had facilitated the entry of 292 trucks with humanitarian aid from the UN and the international community, including food and flour, into Gaza.

The Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday that at least 300 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,600 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza.

Israel's military campaign since October 7, 2023 has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip, which is home to more than two mn people. Most of the population is displaced, and malnutrition is widespread.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he ordered negotiators to "advance" talks on releasing hostages held in Gaza, after sensing an opportunity amid Israel's unprecedented attack on arch-foe Iran.

"I gave instructions the day before Sunday to advance negotiations, because I sense an opening... We will complete... both missions: the destruction of Hamas and the release of the hostages," he said.

Speaking on US news channel Fox News, Netanyahu said moments later that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff "made an offer to begin a 60-day ceasefire, a ceasefire in which half of those hostages would be released right away".

"And I said, yes, we're ready to go. There's been some development there. I hope we're able to do that," he added.