PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israel launched devastating air strikes on Gaza early Thursday while also saying it is ready to resume stalled talks on a truce and hostage release deal with Palestinian group to pause the war raging since October 7. The Gaza Strip’s civil defence agency said two pre-dawn air strikes had killed 26 people, including 15 children, in Gaza City alone.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said one strike hit a family house, killing 16 people, in the Al-Daraj area, and another killed 10 people inside a mosque compound. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Palestinians on Thursday began assessing the damage caused by a two-day Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank that left 12 people dead, including children. Young Palestinian shouted into walkie- talkies as they loaded anti-tank obstacles into a pickup truck, an AFP correspondent reported as he toured the camp after the troops left. Black canvas sheets littered the narrow alleyways of the impoverished camp, torn down after providing cover from Israeli drones. The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said Israeli forces had killed 12 people including four children, and wounded 25 during the fighting which began on Tuesday morning.
The bodies of several people killed in the clashes were wrapped in black and green flags and placed on stretchers which were then hoisted on the shoulders of supporters.
