Israeli strikes kill 15 in Gaza, Cairo holds fresh talks

Israeli military strikes have killed at least 15 Palestinians in Gaza, medics said, as Israeli forces kept up bombardments across the enclave and blew up houses on its northern edge.

In the central Gaza camp of Nuseirat, an Israeli airstrike killed six people in a house, and another attack killed three in a home in Gaza City, medics said.

Two children were killed when a missile hit a tent encampment in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, while four other people were killed in an airstrike in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics told Reuters.

Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October this year.

Palestinians say Israel's operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone - an allegation the army denies.

The military says it has killed hundreds of Hamas militants there as it fights to stop the faction regrouping almost 14 months since the war in Gaza started. Hamas's armed wing says it has killed many Israeli forces in anti-tank rocket and mortar fire attacks, and in ambushes with explosive devices since the new operation started.

'Not there yet' on Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal

The White House is working on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza but is "not there yet," the US National Security Advisor has told US media.

"We are working actively to try to make it happen. We are engaged deeply with the key players in the region, and there is activity even today.

"There will be further conversations and consultations, and our hope is that we can generate a ceasefire and hostage deal, but we're not there yet," said Jake Sullivan, according to a transcript released by broadcaster NBC.

Meanwhile, two Palestinian detainees from Gaza have died in Israeli custody, prisoner advocacy groups said, bringing the number of detainees reported killed since the start of the war to 47.

They named the two men as Mohammad Idris and Muath Rayyan, both in their 30s.

The Israel Prison Service said the cases were not under its jurisdiction and there was no immediate comment from the military which runs detention camps.

Israel has denied accusations from Palestinian and international human rights organisations that detainees have been mistreated and tortured in its jails and detention camps.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,300 people and displaced nearly all of the enclave's population, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of Gaza lie in ruins.

The conflict when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Aid delivery through Kerem Shalom crossing halted

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has halted the delivery of aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of security concerns, its chief has said.

"We are pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point for humanitarian aid into Gaza. The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months.

"On 16 November, a large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs," UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.

"Yesterday, we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken," he added, warning hunger was "rapidly deepening" in Gaza.

Mr Lazzarini listed how the humanitarian operation had become "unnecessarily impossible" due to "the ongoing siege, hurdles from Israeli authorities, political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid, lack of safety on aid routes and targeting of local police".

He called on Israel to ensure aid flowed to Gaza and said the country "must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers".

This follows an Israeli strike yesterday that killed three contractors of the US charity World Central Kitchen, including one who Israel's military said was involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

The United Nations said last month that 333 aid workers had been killed since the start of the war in October of last year, 243 of them employees of UNRWA.

Mr Lazzarini reiterated his call for a ceasefire "that would also secure the delivery of safe and uninterrupted aid to people in need".

Israel, which imposed a total siege on the Hamas-ruled territory in the early stages of the war last year, blames the inability of relief organisations to handle and distribute large quantities of aid.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Palestinian militants' October 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed 44,382 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.