Abbas urges Hamas to free Gaza hostages as Israeli strikes kill 18

GAZA CITY: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged Hamas to free all hostages in Gaza, saying their captivity provided Israel with “excuses” to attack the territory, as rescuers recovered charred bodies from an Israeli strike.

At least 18 people were killed across the Gaza Strip by Israeli strikes, while Germany, France and Britain urged Israel to end its blockade on aid entering the besieged territory.

Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza on March 18, bringing an end to the ceasefire that had largely paused hostilities and resulted in the release of 33 hostages from Gaza and approximately 1,800 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Talks aimed at reaching a new ceasefire have so far failed to produce any breakthroughs, and a 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.”

Ties between Abbas’ Fatah party and Hamas have been tense, with deep political and ideological divisions for nearly two decades.

Abbas and the PA have often accused Hamas of undermining Palestinian unity, while Hamas has criticised the former for collaborating with Israel and cracking down on dissent in the West Bank.

‘Charred bodies’

Israel continued to pound Gaza on Wednesday, with rescuers saying at least 18 people had been killed since dawn, including 11 in a strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people.

“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 Al-Tuffa neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Several bodies, wrapped in white shrouds, were laid at the morgue of Al-Shifa hospital, an AFP journalist reported.

At the hospital, women were seen weeping over the body of a child wrapped in a white shroud.

Grieving relatives carried the bodies of their loved ones for burial, including those of children.

“We want nothing more than for the war to end, so we can live like people in the rest of the world,” said Walid al-Najjar, a resident of Khan Yunis.

“We are a people who are poor, devastated — our lives are lost.”