Fighting continues around Gaza hospitals amid renewed ceasefire talks

Israeli strikes killed 77 Palestinians in Gaza in the past 24 hours, health authorities said on Sunday, as Egypt hosted an Israeli delegation for a new round of talks in a bid to secure a truce with Gaza's Hamas rulers.

The Israeli military said it killed a senior member of Islamic Jihad — a militant group and ally of Hamas — in a strike on a command centre in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza.

"The command centre and terrorists were struck precisely, intended on minimizing harm to uninvolved civilians in the area of the hospital," the military said. "The Al-Aqsa Hospital building was not damaged and its functioning was not affected."

There was no immediate comment from Islamic Jihad.

Palestinian health officials and Hamas media said the strike hit several tents inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital, killing four people and wounding several, including five journalists.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to health officials in the territory.

The war erupted after Hamas-led militants broke through the border and rampaged through communities in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The two sides have stepped up negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of Israel's offensive in return for the proposed release of 40 of 130 hostages still held by Hamas militants in Gaza after their Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Netanyahu vows to keep up military pressure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to keep up military pressure on Hamas, while showing flexibility in the talks, saying only that combination would bring about the release of the hostages still held incommunicado in Gaza.

Hamas says any deal must secure an end to the fighting and a withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel has ruled this out, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle the governing and military capabilities of Hamas.

Hamas would not be present at the talks in Cairo, an official told Reuters on Sunday, as it waited to hear from mediators on whether a new Israeli offer was on the table.

In the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Israeli forces continued to blockade the two main hospitals, and tanks shelled areas in the middle and eastern areas of the territory.

Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed nine people in Bani Suhaila near Khan Younis, while another airstrike killed four people in Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said it killed 15 gunmen in the central Gaza Strip and several in Khan Younis, including near Al-Amal Hospital.

More fighting reported at Gaza's largest hospital

In Gaza City, Israeli forces continued to operate inside Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory's biggest, the health ministry said. Residents living nearby said residential districts had been destroyed by Israeli forces near Al-Shifa.

"I went out looking to buy some medicine from a pharmacy and what I saw was heart-breaking. Complete streets with buildings that used to stand there had been destroyed," said Abu Mustafa, 49.

"This is not war. This is genocide," he told Reuters over the phone from Gaza City.

WATCH | Gaza's health-care system struggles to operate:

Gaza's health-care system ravaged by war, aid shortages

24 days ago

Duration 2:44

Israel's war in Gaza has crippled medical treatment in the territory, and even if the war were to end now, the fatal consequences are expected to last years, according to a report by the British Foreign Office.

Facing fierce international pressure, Israel says it is doing all it can to minimize harm to civilians as it fights militants in an urban battlefield.

Netanyahu said that around 200 gunmen have so far been killed at Al-Shifa Hospital and that hundreds more had surrendered.

"No hospital in the world looks like this. This is what a house of terrorists looks like," Netanyahu said at a news conference in Jerusalem.

Hamas denies having a military presence at the hospital and its spokespeople have said those killed there were civilians.

The Israeli military said that weapons were found at the hospital and that "several compounds used to launch anti-tank missiles and where snipers operated were struck by IAF aircraft" in the Rimal neighbourhood near Shifa.

Sombre Easter

At Gaza City's The Holy Family Church some Christian Palestinians took part in a sombre Easter service.

"My wish is that they leave us alone and that we go back to our lands and children," said Winnie Tarazzi, a Gaza woman praying at the church.

Gaza's population includes an estimated 1,000 Christians, most of whom are Greek Orthodox.

Israelis stage massive anti-government protest

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government demonstration since the country went to war in October. Protesters urged the government to reach a ceasefire deal to free the hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and to hold early elections.

Protesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and said political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack. Some accused him of damaging relations with the United States, Israel's most important ally.

Netanyahu is also facing a litany of corruption charges which are slowly making their way through the courts, and critics say his decisions appear to be focused on political survival over the national interest.

"We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they're busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages," said Boaz Atzili, whose cousin, Aviv Atlizi and his wife, Liat, were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Liat was released but Aviv was killed, and his body is in Gaza. "Netanyahu is only working in his private interests."

Netanyahu, in a nationally televised speech before undergoing hernia surgery later Sunday, said he understood families' pain. But he said calling new elections — in what he described as a moment before victory — would paralyze Israel for six to eight months and stall the hostage talks. For now, Netanyahu's governing coalition appears to remain firmly intact.

Some hostage families agree that now is not the time for elections.

"I don't think that changing the prime minister now is what will advance and help my son to come home," Sheli Shem Tov, whose son Omer was kidnapped from a music festival, told Israel's Channel 12. "To go to elections now will just push to the side the most burning issue, which is to return the hostages home."