At least 20 dead following latest Israel strikes on Gaza

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed by an Israeli army bombardment of Gaza, at Shifa hospital in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)

Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said on Tuesday, as Israel pushed on with a new incursion in an area that had largely been spared heavy fighting during the 21-month war.

The expansion of Israel’s ground invasion comes as Israel and Hamas have been considering terms for a ceasefire for Gaza that would pause the fighting and free at least some hostages.

The latest round of talks has dragged on for weeks with no signs of breakthrough, though negotiators have expressed optimism. With Israel expanding its control over large chunks of Gaza, an expected pullback of troops is a major point of contention in the talks.

The Trump administration has been pushing Israel to wrap up the war and has shown signs of impatience.

Smoke and flames erupt from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)

On Monday, President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Mr Trump was “caught off guard” by a recent Israeli strike on a Catholic church in Gaza.

Top Christian clergy visited that church last week and in a press conference Tuesday in Jerusalem called for the war to end.

In the latest round of strikes, at least 12 people died when tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up, seaside Shati refugee camp on the western side of Gaza City, were hit, according to the city’s Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.

The dead included three women and three children, Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of the hospital told the Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said.

The strike tore apart tents, and left some of the dead lying on the ground, according to footage shared by the health ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.

An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

It accuses the group of prolonging the war because Hamas has not accepted Israel’s terms for a ceasefire – including calls to give up power and disarm.