At least 59 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, 50 of them in a strike on a building in the most northern part of the strip near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia.

At least 50 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the city of Beit Lahia in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as reported by the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health late Thursday evening.

In a separate development, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital on the northern edge of Gaza said on Thursday about 50 people, including five of its staff, had been killed in an Israeli strike on a building by the hospital. A paediatrician and two paramedics were among them.

Israel and Hamas on Wednesday accused each other of obstructing negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after Israel withdrew its negotiators from the talks the previous day. Israeli media reported on Wednesday that the refusal by the Palestinian Islamist militia Hamas to hand over a list of the names of the hostages it still holds is hindering progress in the negotiations.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame on Wednesday (December 25) over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in past days. Olivia Zollino reports.