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By Nathan Morley

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff has met with families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

The meeting came nearly 22 months after the militant group’s October 2023 attack on Israel that led to the abduction of more than 250 people. 

According to Israeli military estimates, 49 hostages remain in Gaza, including 27 believed to be dead.

Attacks continue

Meanwhile, violence continued in the enclave. At least 22 Palestinians were killed Saturday morning in Israeli airstrikes and gunfire, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. 

Medical sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City reported receiving 12 bodies from an aid distribution site near the Netzarim corridor.

Among the dead were five members of a single family killed in a strike on their home in central Gaza. In the northern area near Khan Younis, three people were reported killed and several others wounded when a drone targeted tents sheltering displaced civilians.

Famine

Meanwhile, as famine deepens, Palestinians continue dying in the search for food, the UN human rights office has said.

Despite Israel’s announcement of daily pauses in military activity to allow aid, gunfire and shelling persist along convoy routes and near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites—an Israeli- and U.S.-backed distribution network.

In just 48 hours, 105 Palestinians were killed and 680 injured across northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and areas near GHF centres in central Gaza and Rafah, the UN reported.

Since GHF began operating on May 27, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid—859 near GHF facilities and 514 along convoy paths.