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Dozens in Gaza killed at post office, near aid trucks, as US renews push for cease-fire

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Dozens in Gaza killed at post office, near aid trucks, as US renews push for cease-fire

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Israeli airstrikes killed at least 30 Palestinians at a post office in Gaza, and at least 13 other people were killed while guarding aid trucks, as the U.S. has launched a renewed push for a cease-fire deal.

During a trip to Israel last week, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas − the Gaza-based group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took some 200 people hostage − showed movement towards a deal.

“It might not happen, but I believe it can happen with political will on both sides,” he said at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

‘One no longer hopes’ for cease-fire

But Israel did not slow its attacks in Gaza. That morning, two airstrikes near trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Rafah, southern Gaza, killed 13 Palestinians that local medics said were guarding the trucks.

Israel said those killed were Hamas militants trying to hijack the trucks.

Later that day, a strike on a post office in Nuseirat, a camp for displaced Palestinians in central Gaza, killed at least 30 people and wounded 50 – Israel said it was targeting a leader of Islamic Jihad.

Abu Ayman Al-Shaer told Reuters he came running when he heard explosions followed by the sounds of screaming. Without electricity, people used their phone flashlights to search for survivors, but after more than 12 hours trapped under the rubble, he doubted they were alive.

“Nuseirat camp is being silently annihilated,” he said. “Daily crimes, not a night goes by without a crime.”

Other Nuseirat residents said they had lost hope that a cease-fire deal would stop the barrage of bombs.

“Every time they talk about a ceasefire and every time people hope, a new massacre happens,” Alaa al-Bayoumi told Reuters. “One no longer hopes when they say there’s a cease-fire.”

As Palestinians in Gaza face a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, reports of armed gangs hijacking aid trucks have increased.

Hamas has formed a task force to confront them that the militant group says has killed around two dozen gang members in recent months. Since the war began, Israeli strikes have killed around 700 people tasked with protecting the trucks, according to local officials.

Since the war began last Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 and taking more than 200 hostage, repeated U.S.-backed cease-fire negotiations with regional intermediaries, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have fallen short. More than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and around 2.3 million, 90% of the population, have been driven from their homes.

Contributing: Reuters

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