Negotiations to free hostages intensify; several Palestinians die in Israeli attacks

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged Hamas to free all hostages, saying their captivity provided Israel with “excuses” to attack Gaza, as rescuers recovered charred bodies from an Israeli strike.

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Israeli attacks killed at least 25 people across the besieged territory, while Germany, France and Britain urged Israel to end its blockade on aid.

“Hamas has given the criminal occupation excuses to commit its crimes in the Gaza Strip, the most prominent being the holding of hostages,” Abbas said in Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“I’m the one paying the price, our people are paying the price, not Israel. My brother, just hand them over.”

“Every day there are deaths,” Abbas said.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim called Abbas’s remarks “insulting.”

“Abbas repeatedly and suspiciously lays the blame for the crimes of the occupation and its ongoing aggression on our people,” he said.

ISRAELI AIR STRIKES: Israel continued to pound Gaza, with rescuers saying at least 25 people had been killed since dawn, including 11 in a strike on a school-turned-shelter.

“The school was housing displaced people. The bombing sparked a massive blaze, and several charred bodies have since been recovered,” civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said, describing the attack on Yaffa school in Gaza City’s Al Tuffah neighbourhood.

A journalist reported seeing several bodies in white shrouds at Al Shifa hospital's morgue, where women wept over the body of a child.