Bodies of Israeli father and son hostages found in Gaza

The bodies of father and son hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne have been found in Gaza, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday.

Offering his condolences to the family on X, Katz said their memory would “not be forgotten.” He added that during his tenure as Israel’s foreign minister he “accompanied the courageous family through difficult moments and formed a special bond with Ali, Yosef’s brother and Hamza’s uncle, who joined me on many of my trips and diplomatic meetings.”

Meanwhile, Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed at least 27 people on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said, as international mediators stepped up efforts to seal a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

An airstrike killed at least 10 people in a multi-story house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, while another killed five in the nearby Zeitoun suburb, medics said.

In Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, a total of seven people were killed, they said.

Israel’s military said it struck Hamas militants operating in a school in Jabalia, and that it took steps to minimize risk to civilians.

Later on Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians inside the public garden in Gaza City, medics said. There was no Israeli military comment.

Such mass casualties are a daily occurrence in Gaza, where more than 46,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel’s 15-month-long assault against Hamas, according to health officials in the enclave.

As Israel continued its bombardments, the United States, Qatar and Egypt were making intensive efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.

The outgoing U.S. administration has called for a final push for a deal before President Joe Biden leaves office, and many in the region view president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 as an unofficial deadline.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said early Tuesday that he hoped to have good things to report about Israeli hostages held by the time Trump is sworn in as president. A deal would also involve the release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The Gaza Health Ministry meanwhile warned that Nasser Hospital and the Gaza European Hospital might stop operations in a few hours unless the Israelis stop restricting the flow of fuel to the hospitals.

It later said it received a limited amount of fuel that would delay a complete halt of operations until Thursday unless more fuel arrives.

Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza.

The country launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Its Gaza campaign has laid waste to much of the enclave. Most of the territory’s 2.1 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.

Israel and Hamas both accuse the other of blocking a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal by adhering to conditions that have torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.

On Tuesday, Hamas stood by its demand that it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.