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Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed more than 40 Palestinians, including children at a water distribution point, as talks for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas stalled.Delegations from Israel and the Palestinian militant group have now spent a week trying to agree on a temporary truce to halt 21 months of devastating fighting in the Gaza Strip.On the ground, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said eight children were among the 10 victims of a drone strike at a water point. Israel’s military blamed it on a “technical error” when targeting a militant in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, adding “the munition fell dozens of meters from the target”.Washington is Israel’s top ally and Donald Trump has been pushing for a ceasefire, with the US president saying Sunday he was hopeful of a deal.But there was no immediate sign an end to the fighting was near. Strikes across the Palestinian territory on Sunday killed at least 43 people, including 11 at a Gaza City market, Bassal said.In Nuseirat, resident Khaled Rayyan told AFP he was woken by the sound of two large explosions.”Our neighbour and his children were under the rubble” of a house hit, he said.Another resident, Mahmud al-Shami, called on the negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal.”What happened to us has never happened in the entire history of humanity,” he said. “Enough.”- Targets -The Israeli military, which has recently intensified operations across Gaza, said that in the past 24 hours the air force “struck more than 150 terror targets”.It released aerial footage of what it said were fighter jet strikes attacking Hamas targets around Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, showing explosions on the ground and thick smoke in the sky.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage by militants that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 58,026 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory campaign. The United Nations considers those figures reliable.UN agencies on Saturday warned that fuel shortages had reached “critical levels”, threatening to worsen conditions for Gaza’s more than two million people.”Only 150,000 litres of fuel have been allowed in over the past few days — an amount that covers less than one day’s needs,” the head of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza, Amjad Shawa, told AFP on Sunday.”We require 275,000 litres of fuel per day to meet basic needs.”- Forced displacement fears -Talks in the Qatari capital Doha to seal a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release were in the balance on Saturday after Israel and Hamas accused each other of trying to block a deal.Despite the deadlock, Trump said “hopefully we’re going to get that straightened out over the next week”, speaking to reporters Sunday as he echoed similarly optimistic comments he made July 4.Hamas wants the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, but a Palestinian source with knowledge of the talks said Israel had presented plans to maintain troops in more than 40 percent of the territory.The source said Israel wanted to force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into the south of Gaza “in preparation for forcibly displacing them to Egypt or other countries”.A senior Israeli official said Israel had demonstrated an openness “to flexibility in the negotiations, while Hamas remains intransigent, clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement”.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is prepared to enter talks for a more lasting end to hostilities once a temporary truce is agreed, but only if Hamas disarms.Netanyahu on Sunday evening faced renewed pressure to secure the release of all hostages when protesters beamed images of captives onto buildings near his Jerusalem office.”The absolute majority want a deal even (at the cost of) ending the fighting,” Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod is still being held, told AFP.

US senators on Sunday touted a bipartisan bill that would arm President Donald Trump with “sledgehammer” sanctions to use against Russia, ahead of a visit by the US special envoy to Ukraine.Trump has indicated he would be open to the sanctions bill as relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin grow increasingly frosty.US special envoy Keith …

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Palestinian-American Saif al-Din Abdul Karim Musalat’s body — draped in a flag and covered with a yellow and orange wreath — was carried through the crowded streets of Al-Mazra’ah ash-Sharqiyah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.The village, perched atop limestone hills, is known for its colonnaded villas and manicured gardens — and its few thousand residents who mostly come from the Palestinian diaspora in North America.Musalat, 20, was one of them. Born and raised in Florida, he ran an ice cream parlour in Tampa, arriving in the Palestinian territory just a few weeks ago with a plan to spend the summer with his mother and siblings.But on Friday, he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in nearby Sinjil, the Palestinian health ministry said, in the latest violence to hit the village north of Ramallah.Hundreds gathered on Sunday, chanting prayers and slogans at Musalat’s funeral. Inside his family’s upmarket home, women wept and screamed at the sight of the young man’s lifeless body. On one of the walls, the young man looked from a poster — his beard neatly groomed and against the backdrop of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem’s Islamic sanctuary.Two teenagers embraced as tears ran down their faces. “It’s awful,” one of them sobbed.In recent months, the area has witnessed frequent attacks by Israeli settlers, sometimes backed by the Israeli army, local residents say. A few days before Musalat’s death, the UN said that “attacks, harassment, and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have become a daily reality”.- ‘Dehumanisation’ -Musalat’s family said he was killed on farmland owned by them. Israeli settlers beat him brutally, they claimed, leaving him to die for over three hours and preventing a medical team from reaching him.The Israeli army confirmed that “violent clashes” occurred Friday “between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, along with acts of vandalism against Palestinian property” in the area, and said an investigation had been launched.The victim’s father told reporters after the funeral: “We demand justice for these terrorist settlers. There’s no doubt that they are terrorists. They’re illegally on these lands — they do not belong to them,” said Kamil Hafez Musalat.”We demand the US government do something about it. They’re always saying, you know, for justice, justice, justice. But as Palestinians, they dehumanise us,” he added.Hafez Abdoul Jabar, also a dual national, said he had been waiting for help from the US Embassy for weeks.”We need protection,” he told the crowd, adding that it has become nearly impossible for residents of the area to access their land without risking their lives.Jabar is also a bereaved father: his son was killed in January 2024 under unclear circumstances involving settlers and the Israeli military, his family reported.- Anger -In the village schoolyard, hundreds of men gathered to recite mourning prayers for Musalat and Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, who also died on Friday after being shot during the attack and “left to bleed for hours”, according to the Palestinian health ministry. “We are people trying to live in peace. We try to protect our land. We have nothing against the world or against Israelis — we are just trying to preserve our land,” said his uncle, Samer al-Shalabi, calling the attacks “barbaric and savage”.”We will pursue justice as far as we can — but what good is the law if the judge is our enemy?”Violence in the Palestinian territory has surged since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, after the Palestinian militants’ attack on October 7, 2023. At least 955 Palestinians — both militants and civilians — have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian Authority.At the same time, at least 36 Israelis, including both civilians and members of security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the West Bank, according to official Israeli data.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed more than 30 Palestinians, including children at a water distribution point, as talks for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas stalled.Delegations from Israel and the Palestinian militant group have now spent a week trying to agree on a temporary truce to halt 21 months of bitter fighting in the Gaza Strip.But on Saturday, each side accused the other of blocking attempts to secure an agreement at the indirect talks in the Qatari capital, Doha.There has meanwhile been no let-up in Israeli strikes on Gaza, where most of the population of more than two million have been displaced at least once during the war.Seven UN agencies on Saturday warned that a fuel shortage had reached “critical levels”, threatening aid operations, hospital care and already chronic food insecurity.The civil defence agency said at least 31 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight and into the morning.Eight people were killed in strikes on houses in Gaza City, in the north, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.In the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, 10 people were killed in a strike on a house, while 10 others including eight children were killed at a water distribution point, Bassal said.”We woke up to the sound of two large explosions,” Khaled Rayyan told AFP after a house was flattened in Nuseirat. “Our neighbour and his children were under the rubble.”Another resident, Mahmud al-Shami, called on the negotiators to secure an end to the war.”What happened to us has never happened in the entire history of humanity,” he said. “Enough.”In southern Gaza, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defence spokesman.- Forced displacement fears -There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza.On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 “Hamas terror targets” around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military says are dead.Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 57,882 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military reprisals. The UN considers the figures reliable.Talks to agree a 60-day ceasefire in the fighting and hostage release were in the balance on Saturday after Israel and Hamas accused each other of trying to block a deal.Hamas wants the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, but a Palestinian source with knowledge of the talks said Israel had presented plans to maintain troops in more than 40 percent of the territory.The source said Israel wanted to force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into the south of Gaza “in preparation for forcibly displacing them to Egypt or other countries”.A senior Israeli official said Israel had demonstrated “a willingness to flexibility in the negotiations, while Hamas remains intransigent, clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement”.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is prepared to enter talks for a more lasting end to hostilities once a temporary truce is agreed, but only if Hamas disarms.Thousands of people gathered in Israel’s coastal hub of Tel Aviv on Saturday calling for the release of the hostages.”The window of opportunity… is open now and it won’t be for long,” said former captive Eli Sharabi.

France’s defence relations with Australia have recovered after their 2021 bust-up over a major submarine contract, the country’s ambassador said Sunday.Paris expressed its “strong regrets” when Australia tore up a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from France, Ambassador Pierre-Andre Imbert said.Since the 2022 election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, the …

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