Israeli airstrike kills 10 people in Gaza, as mediators try to revive ceasefire; new PLO deputy named

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike flattened a three-story home in Gaza City on Saturday, killing 10 people — half of them children — as Arab mediators scrambled to restart a ceasefire.

Israeli strikes killed at least 49 people in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza health officials.

The dead in the early morning airstrike in a neighborhood in western Gaza City included three women and five children, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies.

Israel’s military said that it had struck a Hamas militant and the structure where he operated collapsed, adding that the collapse was under review.

“There is no one from the resistance among them,” said Saed Al-Khour, who lost his family in the strike. “Since 1 o’clock until now we have been pulling out the remains of children, women and elderly people.” He stood amid the rubble, under a tilted ceiling.

Three other people were killed in the Shati refugee camp along Gaza City’s shoreline.

Hamas said Saturday that it had sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to try to get the ceasefire, shattered last month by Israeli bombardment, back on track.

Israel has vowed to continue the war until all hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of the Gaza Strip indefinitely and implement President Trump’s proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which Gazans reject and which has been widely denounced internationally.

Hamas has said that it will release the dozens of hostages it holds only in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January.

Hamas said that its delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the group’s vision to end the war, which also includes reconstruction.

Earlier this week, other Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to discuss a proposal that would include a five-to-seven-year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said.

Egypt and Qatar are developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to reporters.

Israeli blockade continues

Israel has continued its nearly two-month blockade of Gaza, even as aid groups warn that supplies are dwindling.

On Friday, the World Food Program said that its food stocks in Gaza had run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. It said the dozens of charity kitchens it supports are expected to run out of food in the coming days.

About 80% of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food because other sources have shut down under Israel’s blockade, according to the United Nations.

“Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 UNRWA trucks of lifesaving aid are ready to enter Gaza,” the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media. “The siege must stop.”

Hamas on Saturday called on the Trump administration to immediately reverse its decision that UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, isn’t immune from being sued, calling it a dangerous step by Israel’s close ally.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Abbas names new PLO deputy

Meanwhile Saturday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas named a veteran aide and confidant as his new vice president. It’s a major step by the aging leader to designate a successor.

The appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh as vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organization does not guarantee he will be the next Palestinian Authority president. But it makes him the front-runner among longtime politicians in the dominant Fatah party who hope to succeed the 89-year-old Abbas.

The move is unlikely to boost the image among many Palestinians of Fatah as a closed and corrupt movement out of touch with the general public.

Abbas hopes to play a major role in postwar Gaza. He has been under pressure from Western and Arab allies to rehabilitate the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He has announced a series of reforms in recent months, and last week his Fatah movement approved the new position of PLO vice president.

The PLO is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people and oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Abbas has led both entities for two decades.

Under the decision, the new vice president, coming from the PLO’s 16-member executive committee, would succeed Abbas in a caretaker capacity if the president dies or becomes incapacitated.

That would make him the front-runner to replace Abbas on a permanent basis, though not guarantee it. The PLO’s executive committee would need to approve that appointment, and the body is filled with veteran politicians who see themselves as worthy contenders.

The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, would have a separate caretaker leader, Rawhi Fattouh, the speaker of the Palestinians’ nonfunctioning parliament. But within 90 days, it would have to hold elections. If that is not possible, the new PLO president would probably take over the position.

Al-Sheikh, 64, is a veteran politician who has held a series of top positions over decades, most recently as the secretary-general of the PLO’s executive committee for the last three years. He spent 11 years in Israeli prisons in his youth and is a veteran of the Palestinian security forces — experiences that could give him credibility with Palestinian security figures and the broader public.

Now he finds himself in a strong position to shore up his power.

He is Abbas’ closest aide and, most critically, maintains good working relations with Israel and the Palestinians’ Arab allies, including wealthy Gulf countries. As Abbas’ point man with Israel, Al-Sheikh is responsible for arranging coveted travel permits for Palestinians, including leaders and other dignitaries, giving him an important lever of power over his rivals.

But polls show Al-Sheikh, like most of Fatah’s leadership, to be deeply unpopular with the general public. This week’s decision behind closed doors by the PLO’s aging leadership is likely to reinforce its image as stodgy and remote.

The most popular Palestinian, Marwan Barghouti, is serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli prison, and Israel has ruled out releasing him as part of any swap for Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.

As Israel’s war with Hamas drags on, with threats by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of uprooting Palestinians in Gaza to relocate them, Al-Sheikh will be under mounting pressure to unite the Palestinian leadership.

The PLO is a rival of Hamas, which won the last national elections in 2006 and is not part of the PLO. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas’ forces in 2007, and reconciliation attempts have repeatedly failed.

In a 2022 interview with the Associated Press, Al-Sheikh defended his unpopular coordination with Israel, saying there was no choice under the difficult circumstances of the occupation.

“I am not a representative for Israel in the Palestinian territories,” he said at the time. “We undertake the coordination because this is the prelude to a political solution for ending the occupation.”

Shurafa, Magdy and Bwaitel write for the Associated Press. Shurafa reported from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Magdy from Cairo and Bwaitel from Ramallah, West Bank.