Israeli airstrike claims 106 lives in refugee camp

CAIRO: Palestinian medical officials say the death toll from an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza has risen to 106. The announcement makes the Sunday night airstrike in the Maghazi refugee camp among the deadliest in Israel’s air campaign in Gaza, launched on October 7 in response to a deadly cross-border attack by Hamas militants.

Hospital officials initially said 68 people had died. On Monday, first responders retrieved more than three dozen additional bodies that were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah. Hospital records seen by The Associated Press listed 106 deaths.

The war has devastated large parts of Gaza, killed more than 20,400 Palestinians and displaced almost all of the territory’s 2.3 million people.

Egypt floats ambitious peace plan

Meanwhile, Egypt has put forward an ambitious, initial proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war with a cease-fire, a phased hostage release and the creation of a Palestinian government of experts who would administer the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat said on Monday.

The proposal, worked out with the Gulf nation of Qatar, has been presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European governments but still appeared preliminary.

It falls short of Israel’s professed goal of outright crushing Hamas and would appear not to meet Israel’s insistence on keeping military control over Gaza for an extended period after the war.

Israel’s War Cabinet, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, will meet later Monday discuss the hostage situation, among other topics, an Israeli official said, but would not say if they would discuss the Egyptian proposal.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

Word of the proposal comes as Israeli airstrikes heavily pounded central and southern Gaza, crushing buildings on families sheltering inside.