In the aftermath of an Israeli strike in his neighbourhood in northern Gaza, Shadi Mansour carries the body of his six-year-old son Ameer.
Wrapped in a red blanket, the boy's body is finally retrieved from a hollowed-out building a day after the strike.
Shadi said he had to dig through rubble with his bare hands on Sunday to retrieve his son's body.
"I had him after 40 years," the father told the Reuters news agency, surrounded by piles of rubble.
"Is he a member of the resistance? Is he a fighter? All the targets of the Israeli army are children. In this area, in this residential compound, no less than 17 people were martyred, including, as you see, (people) under the rubble."
The body of six-year-old Ameer was recovered almost 24 hours after an Israeli strike killed him and others in Gaza City, according to his father and local health officials. Credit: Reuters Ameer was among dozens killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Saturday, Gaza health officials said, despite a demand from US President Donald Trump for Israel to stop bombing in response to a declaration by Hamas that it was ready to free hostages under his plan to end the two-year-old war.
Eighteen people died in sporadic incidents, while 18 people, including children, were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli strike on a house in the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, medics said. The attack damaged several buildings nearby.
A relative of one of those killed, Mohammed Arbia, said he was praying for the strikes to stop.
"The people are unable to continue on," he said.
"They are losing their children day after day, injuries and wounded people and you can see everything."
Israel said it had targeted a Hamas militant who had posed a threat to its troops in the area, and that reports of casualties were under review.
The military "regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians and works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible," it said in a statement.
'The strikes will have to stop': US foreign policy chief
Trump has promoted a 20-point plan aimed at ending the fighting in Gaza , securing the release of remaining hostages, and defining the territory's future. Israel and Hamas have agreed to parts of the plan.
Hamas on Friday accepted the hostage release and several other elements but sidestepped contentious points, including calls for its disarmament — which it has long rejected.
READ MORE The major sticking points that could still upend the partially accepted Gaza peace deal
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio called for a halt to Israeli bombing on Gaza.
"I think the Israelis and everyone acknowledge you can't release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop," he told a CBS News talk show.
"There can't be a war going on in the middle of it."
Around 250,000 protesters marched through Amsterdam on Sunday, calling for the Dutch government to take a tougher stance against Israel's war in Gaza. Most wore red to signal their support for a symbolic "red line" against Israel's siege of Gaza. Source: SIPA USA / ANP/Ramon van Flymen Ahmed Assad, a displaced Palestinian man in central Gaza, said he had been hopeful when news broke of Trump's plan, but said nothing had changed on the ground.
"We do not see any change to the situation; on the contrary, we don't know what action to take, what shall we do? Shall we remain in the streets? Shall we leave?"
Where are the Gaza ceasefire talks at?
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas were set to hold talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing hope that hostages held in Gaza could be released within days.
Trump said talks on implementing a truce for Gaza will take days , while his foreign policy chief Marco Rubio warned Israel needs to stop bombing for a hostage release to happen.
"They're in negotiations right now as we speak. They've started the negotiations. It'll last a couple of days," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"We'll see how it turns out. But I'm hearing it's going very well."
In a text exchange with CNN, Trump said "yes" when asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on board with ending the military campaign in Gaza.
Israeli shekel surges on possible end to Gaza war
In a sign of Israeli optimism over the Trump plan, its shekel currency hit a three-year high against the dollar and Tel Aviv stocks reached an all-time high.
Some people in Tel Aviv shared that sentiment. "It's the first time in months that I'm actually hopeful. Trump has really instilled a lot of hope into us," resident Gil Shelly said.
Domestically, Netanyahu is caught between growing pressure to end the war — from hostage families and a war-weary public — and demands from hardline members of his coalition who insist there must be no let-up in Israel's campaign in Gaza.
Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X that halting attacks on Gaza would be a "grave mistake". He and security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have threatened to bring down Netanyahu's government if the Gaza war ends.
— With additional reporting from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
[SRC] https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/trump-says-gaza-deal-talks-to-go-on-couple-days-as-rubio-asks-israel-to-stop-bombing/kcyspcgfz
