Israel's Brutal Attack On Gaza Continues, US-Arab Joins In Combating Arms Gencata

Gazans are selling in the middle of the rubble as a result of the Israeli/UNFPA/Clinic media attack

JAKARTA - The United States joins Arab mediators, seeking to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to stop the war that has lasted for 14 months in the Gaza Strip.

At the time of the accelerated negotiation attempt, Israeli attacks killed 20 Palestinians overnight.

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said mediators had narrowed the gap in most of the agreement clauses.

He said Israel had put forward Hamas' rejected terms but would not be further explained.

A report by Reuters on Wednesday, December 18, sources close to talks in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, said the agreement could be signed in the coming days regarding the ceasefire and release of hostages detained in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.

A medical officer said Israeli airstrikes killed 10 people at home in the northern city of Beit Lahiya. Meanwhile, six people were killed in separate airstrikes in Gaza City, Nuseirat camp in the central region, and Rafah near the border with Egypt.

In Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said four people were killed in an air attack on residents' homes. There has been no immediate comment from an Israeli military spokesman.

Israeli troops have been operating in the cities of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya as well as nearby Jabalia camps since October.

Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out an "ethnic cleansing" act to reduce the population on the northern edge of the enclave to create a buffer zone. Israel denies it.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was attacking a number of Hamas militants planning an attack on Israeli forces operating in Jabalia.