Israeli strikes leave 50 dead in Gaza; truce deal remains elusive

Cairo/Jerusalem, August 21

Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 50 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, Palestinian health officials said on Wednesday, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his latest visit to the region with a truce deal still elusive.

As last-ditch diplomacy continued to halt the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli military said jets hit around 30 targets throughout the Gaza Strip including tunnels, launch sites and an observation post.

It said troops killed dozens of armed fighters and seized weapons including explosives, grenades and automatic rifles. Later in the day, the Israeli military struck a school and a nearby house in Gaza City, killing at least three people and wounding 15, the territory’s Civil Emergency Service said.

The military said, in a statement, it had hit Hamas militants operating at a command center located inside a compound that had previously served as a school.

The conflict churned on as Blinken wound up his ninth troubleshooting visit to West Asia since the Gaza war erupted last October with still no sign that deep differences between the sides over how to end the war could be reconciled.

Tanker attacked in Red Sea

A Greek-flagged oil tanker was adrift in the Red Sea on Wednesday after repeated attacks that started a fire on the vessel and caused the ship to lose power, the UK maritime agency said.

Israel bombs sites in Lebanon

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had bombed Hezbollah weapon storage facilities in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley overnight, and Hezbollah said it had carried out a drone attack on military posts in a kibbutz in northern Israel in retaliation. Israel also said it had killed a militant in Sidon, southern Lebanon, who worked with Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah. Hezbollah said it had retaliated for the strike on the Bekaa by firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military logistics site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and by later firing a swarm of drones on military posts in the kibbutz of Amiad in northern Israel.