UNDEFINED – Israeli shelling near a hospital in southern Gaza has killed 41 people in the past two days, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, after Israel stepped up attacks in the center and south of the besieged territory.

The UN humanitarian office said on Thursday that an estimated 100,000 more displaced people had arrived in the already crowded southern border town of Rafah in recent days due to intensifying fighting around Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis.

The additional displacements came as Egyptian officials prepared to host a high-level Hamas delegation in Cairo on Friday for talks on a new proposal aimed at ending the nearly three-month war that has devastated Gaza.

The Palestinian Red Crescent on Thursday condemned the Israeli shelling near the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, which “led to the martyrdom of ten people and the injury of at least 21 other people,” according to the hospital the day before, which killed 31 people were killed.

“The victims include people staying outside the hospital and displaced people seeking shelter in the PRCS.” [Red Crescent] premises,” the group said in a statement.

Later in the day, the Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip said Israeli shelling had killed 20 people, most of them women and children, in the Shaboura camp in Rafah, on the southern border with Egypt.

AFP footage from the city showed bloodied people being carried through the streets to a nearby Kuwaiti hospital, where medical staff rushed to treat a flood of wounded patients, including children. AFP could not immediately confirm whether they were victims of the same attack.

The war in Gaza, which began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, has left much of the territory’s north in ruins as the frontline moves further south.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the attack, which killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Around 250 hostages were also taken in the attack, more than half of whom are still in captivity – a source of great concern for their families, who protested in Jerusalem on Thursday demanding they be “taken home”.

Israel’s relentless airstrikes and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip have killed at least 21,320 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

The Israeli army says 167 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip fighting Hamas, which Israel, the United States and the European Union consider a “terrorist” group.

“MY DAUGHTERS SCREAMING”

The Israeli army recently said it had deployed an additional brigade to Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, where AFP correspondents reported sustained air and artillery attacks.

“The missions our forces are carrying out in Khan Yunis are unprecedented – our forces are reaching areas we have never been before, taking over control rooms and eliminating terrorists,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers on Thursday.

Israel has repeatedly stated that one of the main goals of the war is the return of the hostages.

On Thursday, a kibbutz announced that a 70-year-old U.S.-Israeli citizen, believed to be the oldest woman held captive, died in the Oct. 7 attacks.

US President Joe Biden said he was “devastated” by the news that Judith Weinstein Haggai was dead and vowed that Washington “will not stop working with its ally Israel” to bring the remaining hostages home .

According to the United Nations, more than 80% of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been forced from their homes and many are now living in cramped shelters or makeshift tents in the far south around Rafah.

Residents searched the rubble for survivors on Thursday after an airstrike that a witness said caused “multiple deaths.”

“We sat [at home] peaceful and suddenly we heard a loud explosion and debris fell on us. “The apartment was completely destroyed and my daughters were screaming,” said Tayseer Abu Al-Eish.

An Israeli siege imposed after October 7 after years of a crippling blockade has deprived Gaza residents of food, water, fuel and medicine.

The serious shortage could only be remedied sporadically by humanitarian aid convoys, which arrived mainly via Egypt.

Israel said on Thursday it had given the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus preliminary approval for a “maritime lifeline” to transport aid to Gaza.

Ceasefire plan

A Hamas delegation was scheduled to deliver its “observations” in Cairo on Friday on an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire recently presented to representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are also fighting Israeli forces in Gaza.

Sources close to Hamas say Cairo’s three-stage plan calls for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel and, ultimately, a ceasefire to end the war.

It also envisions a Palestinian technocratic government, following talks with “all Palestinian factions,” to be responsible for governing and rebuilding post-war Gaza.

A Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Thursday that the delegation would “provide the response of the Palestinian factions, including several observations” on details of the exchange and “guarantees for a full Israeli military withdrawal.”

Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s state information services, said the plan was “intended to bring together the views of all concerned parties, with the aim of putting an end to the Palestinian bloodshed.”