GAZA: The Zionist entity and Hamas resumed ceasefire talks on Saturday in Qatar, both sides said, even as Zionist forces ramped up a bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of people over 72 hours, and mobilized for a massive new ground assault. Palestinian health authorities said at least 153 people had been confirmed killed in the third day of the Zionist entity’s latest bombing campaign, one of the deadliest waves of strikes since a ceasefire collapsed in March. Many hundreds more were wounded in hospitals and countless others buried under rubble.

The Zionist entity says it is mobilizing to seize more ground in Gaza in a new campaign dubbed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots”, following a visit this week to the Middle East by US President Donald Trump. It has halted all supplies entering Gaza since the start of March, leading to rising international concern over the plight of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents.

Reuters journalists saw Zionist tanks assembled on the outskirts of the enclave. Inside Gaza, people fled from the bombardment of northern areas, pushing their belongings on carts. “They are bombing houses, and

the people are afraid. What should we do?” Imad Naseer, 50, fleeing his home in the face of the assault, told Reuters. “They treat us as if we are animals, not as humans.”

One attack on a home in the central city of Deir el-Balah killed nine people, including a seven-month-old child. In the same city, displaced Gazans sifted through belongings, some bloodstained, for whatever could be salvaged after overnight strikes hit their tents. “We woke up at half past two in the morning to the sound of a loud explosion that shook the entire area,” said Umm Fadi Quzaat. “There was blood and body parts everywhere.”

Italy urged the Zionist entity to stop the strikes, with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani saying: “Enough with the attacks”. Germany said it was “deeply concerned” about the offensive. Thousands protested in London on Saturday against the war. “The situation in Gaza is worsening and worsening,” said one demonstrator, who gave his name as Laurens. “More and more organizations and agencies are talking about genocidal violence, and I think it’s important that we’re here to show that we don’t agree with (the Zionist entity’s) government policies.”

Taher Al-Nunu, the media advisor for the Hamas leadership, told Reuters a new round of indirect talks with the Zionist delegation in Doha began on Saturday, discussing all issues “without pre-conditions”. “The Hamas delegation outlined the position of the group and the necessity to end the war, swap prisoners, the (Zionist) withdrawal from Gaza, and allowing humanitarian aid and all the needs of the people of Gaza back into the strip,” he added.

Zionist Defense Minister Israel Katz also said in a statement that negotiations on a deal to release Zionist captives held by Hamas had resumed in Doha. He noted that the talks had started without the Zionist entity first agreeing to a ceasefire or to lift its blockade. The Zionist military said it was conducting extensive strikes and mobilizing troops with the aim of achieving “operational control” in parts of Gaza.

Gaza health authorities said most of those killed on Saturday were in towns on the northern edge of the enclave, including Beit Lahiya and the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as in the southern city of Khan Younis. They said 459 people had been injured. “Northern Gaza is witnessing a systematic campaign of extermination,” Hamas said in a statement, calling on Arab leaders at a summit in Baghdad to help stop the aggression and ensure the delivery of aid.

Talks since March have failed to restore a truce under which Hamas would release remaining captives captured in the Oct 2023 assault on the Zionist entity. Hamas has long said it would not free them unless the Zionist entity ends its campaign; the Zionist entity says it will fight on until Hamas is dismantled.

United Nations experts say famine now looms in Gaza more than two months after the Zionist entity halted all deliveries of supplies. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher asked the Security Council this week if it would act to “prevent genocide”. On Friday, Trump said “a lot of people are starving” in Gaza. A US-backed foundation aims to start distributing aid to Gazans by the end of May using private US security and logistics firms. The UN has said it won’t work with them because they are not impartial.

Gaza’s health system is barely operational with hospitals hit repeatedly by the Zionist military during the 19-month war and medical supplies drying up. The head of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, Marwan Al-Sultan, said huge numbers of wounded victims of the latest bombing were in critical condition. “Since midnight, we have received 58 martyrs, while a large number of victims remain under the rubble. The situation inside the hospital is catastrophic,” he said on X.

The Zionist military campaign has devastated the enclave, pushing nearly all residents from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people. NBC News reported on Friday, citing five sources, that the Trump administration was working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya. All major Palestinian political groups reject any such displacement. – Agencies