GAZA: The Zionist entity pounded the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people according to rescuers, nearly 15 months into its war in Gaza. Gaza’s health ministry said a total of 88 people were killed over the previous 24 hours. The latest deaths come after the Zionist entity late on Saturday said indirect negotiations had resumed in Qatar for a truce and captive release deal.

An air strike on the Zuhd family’s house in northern Gaza’s Sheikh Radwan area killed at least 11 people early Sunday, according to civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal. He said the victims included women and children. “Rescuers are still searching for five people trapped under the rubble of the house,” he said, adding his crewmembers were using “bare hands” in the effort.

A hand belonging to one of the dead could be seen amongst the ruins, with the rest of his body buried under collapsed masonry. Three men removed dirt with their bare hands to retrieve bodies and search for possible survivors. “Three young men, the son’s wife, and three children are still here. We retrieved this cousin of mine. Another cousin has been martyred and is now in the hospital. Approximately 11 people have been martyred here,” Ammar Zuhd, a relative, told Reuters.

The Zionist military said Sunday it had struck more than 100 targets in Gaza over the past two days, marking an apparent escalation in its assault. In one strike, five people died when the house of the Abu Jarbou family was struck in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, rescuers said. AFP footage from another strike showed rescuers transporting bodies and injured people to a hospital.

In one scene, a medic attempted to resuscitate a wounded man inside an ambulance, while another carried an injured child to the hospital. Relatives cried over the bodies of two men wrapped in white shrouds, the images showed. Several of the strikes targeted sites from which fighters had been firing projectiles into the Zionist entity in recent days, the military said.

The renewed fire from Gaza has triggered air raid sirens in Zionist communities that were largely destroyed during Hamas’ Oct 2023 attack. Rocket fire had become less frequent as the war dragged on but intensified since late December as the Zionist entity continues a three-month major land and air offensive in the territory’s north.

The escalation coincides with indirect negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal that both sides said were to resume this weekend in Qatar. Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have tried for months to strike a deal to end the war and secure the release of dozens of captives held in Gaza. The latest effort comes just days before Donald Trump takes office as president of the United States on Jan 20.

The Zionist military offensive has killed 45,805 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians. In a related development, Zionist Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, accusing it of violating ceasefire terms that halted their war on Nov 27. He claimed that Hezbollah had still not withdrawn “beyond the Litani River” in southern Lebanon, as stipulated in the ceasefire deal.

On Saturday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem accused the Zionist entity of violating the ceasefire agreement, which the United States and France help to monitor. Qassem said Hezbollah was prepared to respond even before the expiry of a 60-day deadline for the Zionist entity to withdraw from southern Lebanon. The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon also accused the Zionist Saturday of a “flagrant violation” of the 2006 Security Council resolution that forms the basis of its November ceasefire with Hezbollah.

“This morning, peacekeepers observed a (Zionist military) bulldozer destroying a blue barrel marking the line of withdrawal between Lebanon and (the Zionist entity) in Labbouneh, as well as an observation tower belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces immediately beside a UNIFIL position there,” the peacekeeping force said. “The (Zionist military’s) deliberate and direct destruction of both clearly identifiable UNIFIL property and infrastructure belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces is a flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 and international law.” – Agencies