Gaza truce and hostage talks resume in Qatar as bombardment continues

Israel confirmed that negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal had resumed in Qatar, as rescuers said more than 30 people had been killed after fresh bombardments of the territory.

The civil defense agency said a dawn air strike on a family home in Gaza City killed 11 people, including seven children.

The Hamas government's health ministry said on Sunday that 88 Palestinians had died in the past 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war to 45,805. 

With no let-up in the violence, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that indirect negotiations with Hamas had begun again in Qatar for the release of hostages seized in the October 2023 attacks.

Katz said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given "detailed instructions for the continued negotiations." He was speaking after Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, released a video of a female Israeli soldier Liri Albag Albag in captivity in Gaza.

In the undated, three-and-half-minute recording, the 19-year-old conscript called in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure her release. In response, her family issued an appeal to Netanyahu, saying: "It's time to take decisions as if it were your own children there."

A total of 96 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza , including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the latest video was "firm and incontestable proof of the urgency of bringing the hostages home."

The militant group, whose October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war, said they would "focus on ensuring the agreement leads to a complete cessation of hostilities (and) the withdrawal of occupation forces".

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged in months of effort that have failed to end nearly 15 months of war.

In December, Qatar expressed optimism that "momentum" was returning to the talks following the U.S. election of Donald Trump, who takes office in just over two weeks. But Hamas and Israel then accused each other of setting new conditions and obstacles.

As the clock ticks down to the handover of power in Washington, the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden notified Congress of an $8 billion arms sale to Israel, according to reports in the U.S.

The official said the proposed sale involved munitions to "support Israel's long-term security by resupplying stocks of critical munitions and air defense capabilities."

The U.S. is Israel's largest military supplier.

The Israeli army said on Sunday it had struck over 100 "terrorist targets" in the Gaza Strip over the past two days, adding it had "eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists."

The army also said it had hit several sites used by Palestinian fighters to fire projectiles toward Israel in recent days.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened on Wednesday to intensify strikes on Palestinian territory if Hamas continued to fire rockets into his country.

Israel says it has been targeted almost daily for more than a week, although shots are less frequent than at the start of the war.