Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 70, Egypt proposes two-day ceasefire with hostages & prisoner swap plan

Israeli airstrikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, primarily women and children, Palestinian officials reported on Sunday, as the Israeli operation in the heavily affected and isolated north entered its third week, with aid groups warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis. Israel stated that its strikes targeted militants.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi announced a proposal for a two-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas during which four hostages held in Gaza would be released.

El-Sissi, speaking in Cairo said that the plan also includes freeing some Palestinian prisoners and delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Egypt has acted as a key mediator alongside Qatar and the United States in the ongoing conflict. This is the first public instance of Egypt’s president proposing such a plan. Israel and Hamas have not yet issued responses to the proposal.

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In a separate incident, a truck rammed into a bus stop near Tel Aviv, killing one while injuring 29 people, according to first responders.

Preliminary police findings showed the truck driver also hit a bus that had stopped at the same station to drop off passengers, the police said in a statement.

At least 29 people were injured, including several in serious condition, emergency service providers Magen David Adom said in a statement.

Police did not say whether it was an attack, but added that civilians at the scene “shot the truck driver and neutralised him”.

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One of those hurt died later of his injuries, said the hospital where he was taken for treatment.

Iran’s supreme leader, meanwhile, said Israeli strikes on the country over the weekend “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation, suggesting Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack.

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes attacked military targets in Iran in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

The exchange of fire has raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which include Hamas and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this month after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.

The Israeli military said Sunday that four soldiers, including a military rabbi, were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, without providing details about the circumstances. It said five other personnel were severely wounded.

Apparent truck attack in Israel kills one, wounds dozens

In the city of Ramat Hasharon, northeast of Tel Aviv, the truck slammed into a bus at a stop as Israelis were returning to work after a weeklong holiday, leaving one dead and several others injured. In addition to being near the Mossad headquarters and a military base, the bus stop is also close to a central highway junction.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said six of the wounded were in serious condition.

Asi Aharoni, an Israeli police spokesperson, told reporters that the attacker had been “neutralized,” without saying if the assailant was dead.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group praised the suspected attack but did not claim it.

Paramedic Elior Yosef, who arrived at the bus stop after the ramming, said he saw eight people “trapped under the truck”.

“A number of further casualties were either lying or walking near the truck,” he was quoted as saying in the Magen David Adom statement.

Officers and ambulances rushed to the scene, where AFP journalists saw police cordoning off the area as medics helped the injured and a helicopter hovered above.

Palestinian militant group Hamas, in a statement, said the “heroic ramming attack” that was carried out near “Mossad headquarters… was in response to the crimes committed by the Zionist occupation” against Palestinians.

Elsewhere, a man who tried to stab a group of soldiers was killed in Hizma, a Palestinian town near Jerusalem.

“A terrorist accelerated with his vehicle toward IDF (Israeli army) soldiers who were conducting counterterrorism activity adjacent to the area of Hizma,” the military said in a statement, without identifying the attacker.

“The terrorist pulled out a knife from his vehicle, and attempted to carry out a stabbing attack. The soldiers eliminated the terrorist and thwarted the attempted terror attack,” it said, adding no soldiers were hurt.

Since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year, there have been several attacks in Israel carried out by Palestinian militants.

At least 30 people, including Israeli soldiers, have been killed in such attacks in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Sunday’s incidents come as Israel held ceremonies to mark the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

With inputs from agencies.