Israeli attacks target Palestinians across Gaza amid ceasefire talks 

Recent Israeli attacks have killed and injured dozens of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip amid ongoing talks to reach a truce deal in the besieged territory.

Medical sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli bombardment injured about 40 people north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Monday. Casualties, including children, were also reported in the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis.

The Palestinian Civil Defence said that it retrieved the bodies of three people who were killed in Israeli bombing in Nuseirat and another person in Khirbet al-Adas, north of Rafah.

The Gaza Health Ministry had said earlier on Monday that at least 49 people were killed over the previous 24 hours, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the war to 45,854.

Israel has been killing dozens of Palestinians in Gaza daily since the war broke out in October 2023. It has also imposed a suffocating blockade on the territory and displaced nearly its entire population.

Harsh winter conditions have added to the woes of Palestinians sheltering in makeshift tents, already contending with hunger and lack of medical care.

The Gaza Government Media Office said on Monday that eight displaced Palestinians have died due to severe cold in recent weeks, warning that the number could rise amid dire conditions in the territory.

“We hold the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip as well as the American administration and countries that have supported and participated in the genocide,” the office said in a statement.

It called on international organisations and Arab and Muslim countries to urgently intervene to save civilians in Gaza.

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday accused Israeli forces of firing at one of its convoys a day earlier.

It described the shooting, which did not result in casualties, as “unacceptable”.

“The World Food Programme strongly condemns the horrifying incident on January 5, when a clearly marked WFP convoy was shot at by Israeli forces near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, putting the lives of our staff at tremendous risk and leaving the vehicles immobilised,” WFP said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are facing arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes in Gaza, including using “starvation as a method of warfare”.

Against the backdrop of the violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, diplomatic efforts have continued to reach a ceasefire deal that would lead to the release of Israeli captives held by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Hamas officials told several media outlets on Monday that the group is willing to free 34 Israeli captives in the first stage of the deal that would also see the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

It is unclear how many of the Israeli captives on the initial list are still alive. Hamas has said that Israeli bombardment has killed several captives since the start of the war.

Israeli media outlets reported on Monday that Mossad chief David Barnea postponed a trip to Doha to finalise the deal while Israel awaits Hamas’s response to a proposal.

Incoming United States President Donald Trump reiterated on Monday that “there would be hell to pay” if the captives are not released by the time he returns to the White House for a second term on January 20.