US 'days away' from Gaza ceasefire and hostages deal

The US, joined by mediators Qatar and Egypt, sought yesterday to bring about an agreement between Israel and Hamas to halt the 14-month-old war in the Gaza Strip as medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight.

- NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said yesterday that mediators had narrowed gaps in most of the agreement's clauses. He said Israel had introduced conditions that Hamas rejected but would not elaborate. On Tuesday, sources close to the talks in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, said an agreement could be signed in the coming days on a ceasefire and a release of hostages held in Gaza in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Medics, meanwhile, said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in a house in the northern town of Beit Lahiya while six were killed in separate airstrikes in Gaza City, Nuseirat camp, and Rafah near the border with Egypt.

In Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said four people were killed in an airstrike on a house. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military spokesperson.