Dozens of Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Friday [Getty]
Officials involved in the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel talked up the prospects of a deal on Friday as efforts to broker an end to the war intensify ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an urgent meeting with his defence minister yesterday after Qatar delivered a positive message from Hamas about its willingness to reach a deal, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported.
The two sides are the closest they’ve been to coming to an agreement since the negotiations started, a Palestinian source told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The group is expecting a response from the Israelis in the coming hours, they said.
This came on the same day that Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff flew into Doha in a bid to accelerate the pace of negotiations.
Officials in the incoming administration have made it clear they want an agreement to be sewn up before Trump enters office on 20 January.
Witkoff met Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani yesterday and has been in talks with Biden administration officials and members of the Israeli government.
Qatar, Egypt and the US have been trying to negotiate an end to the war for months but successive rounds of talks in the Qatari capital have collapsed, with Hamas and Israel blaming each other for putting up roadblocks to an agreement.
Israel kills dozens in Gaza
Israeli military attacks killed dozens of Palestinians across Gaza on Friday.
Deaths were reported following Israeli airstrikes and shelling in several locations in northern Gaza, while five were killed in the Bureij refugee camp in the centre of the strip.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian journalist was killed by an Israeli sniper in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza.
Video posted online showed freelance reporter Saed Nabhan being gunned down while running for safety at the camp.
Nabhan’s death brings the total number of journalists killed in the 15-month war to 203.
This comes a day after the official death toll passed the latest grim milestone of 46,000.
The true death toll?
The death toll in Gaza during the first nine months of the war was about 40% higher than official figures, according to research published in The Lancet medical journal on Friday.
Gaza’s health ministry reported a death toll of 37,877 as of 30 June last year.
The new peer-reviewed study suggests that this was a significant undercount. Using data from the ministry, an online survey and social media obituaries, researchers estimated that the Israeli military killed between 55,298 and 78,525 people between October 2023 and 30 June 2024.
The study’s best estimate was 64,260, which would mean the official death toll had under-counted by 41 percent.
Israel bombs Yemen, Lebanon
Israel, the US and the UK conducted a joint attack on Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported.
Israel said its air force targeted the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa and the Hizaz power station, while Houthi media reported explosions near Al-Sabeen Square in the country’s capital Sanaa.
The attacks came as thousands of Yemenis rallied in a show of support for Palestinians.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed six people and injured two others on Friday.
An Israeli drone bombed two vehicles in a village near Tyre, claiming that they were being used to transport Hezbollah weapons.
