Israeli strikes kill at least 17 Palestinians in overnight Gaza assault, officials say

At least 17 Palestinians were killed and 50 were wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza City in the early hours of Sunday morning, civil emergency and health officials said.

The fatalities resulted from at least four separate Israeli airstrikes on four houses in different areas of the city. Residents and Palestinian health officials said the Israeli military had stepped up aerial and ground shelling.

On Saturday an Israeli airstrike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry said. The attack was the deadliest in Gaza for weeks.

Israel said the attack targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif but it was uncertain whether he had been killed. Hamas said that Israeli claims it had targeted leaders of the group were false and were aimed at justifying the attack.

Read more: Senior Hamas official says group withdraws from Gaza truce talks

A senior Hamas official told AFP Sunday that the Palestinian militant group has withdrawn from talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza war because of Israeli massacres and its attitude in negotiations.

Another Hamas official said the group’s military leader Mohammed Deif was “fine” and working despite Israel’s huge bomb attack on a southern Gaza camp that it said targeted the wanted Hamas commander.

Gaza’s health ministry said the attack left 92 dead.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh told international mediators Qatar and Egypt of the end of the talks on a ceasefire plan first outlined by US President Joe Biden in May, according to the senior official.