CAIRO: Israeli military strikes across the Palestinian Gaza Strip killed at least 61 people in the space of 48 hours, local medics said on Saturday, as Israeli forces battled Hamas-led militants in the territory.
Eleven months into the war, numerous rounds of diplomacy have so far failed to clinch a ceasefire deal to end the conflict and bring the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza as well as many Palestinians jailed in Israel.
An Israeli air strike in on the Halima Al Sa'diyya school compound serving as a shelter for displaced people in the Jabalia urban refugee camp killed at least eight people and wounded 15 others, medics said.
The Israeli military said the strike had targeted a Hamas command centre inside the compound. It accused the group of repeatedly exploiting civilians and civilian infrastructure for military purposes, an allegation Hamas denies.
Five more people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City.
Later on Saturday, an Israeli strike killed four people and wounded 25 others at Amr Ibn Ala'as school, which also houses displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb of Gaza City, Palestinian medics said.
The Israeli military said the air strike targeted a command centre operated by Hamas gunmen in the compound that had previously served as a school.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli military strikes had killed so far 28 people across the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
The armed wings of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah groups said they had fought Israeli troops in Gaza City, in central areas and in the south with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, and in some incidents detonated bombs to target tanks and other army vehicles.
The two warring sides continued to blame one another for the failure of mediators, including Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to broker a ceasefire. The US is preparing to present a new proposal, but the prospects of a breakthrough appear dim as gaps between the sides remain large.
CIA Director William Burns, the chief US negotiator, told an event in London that a more detailed proposal would be made in the coming days. - Reuters
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