AT LEAST 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air attacks in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said today.

This came as international mediators continued efforts to reach a ceasefire deal between Hamas and the Israelis.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said the people killed by the Israelis included 17 women and 10 children.

A statement from the hospital said one strike killed 10 people from the same family, including three children.

The Israeli military did not comment on specific strikes, but said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza over the past day, including fighters, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and tunnels.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a second meeting in two days with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday evening.

Mr Netanyahu told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday that he and Trump see “eye to eye” on the need to destroy Hamas.

He added that the cooperation and coordination between Israel and the US are currently the best it has ever been during Israel’s 77-year history.

Later this week, Mr Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is expected to head to the Qatari capital of Doha to continue indirect negotiations with Hamas on the ceasefire proposal.

Mr Witkoff said late Tuesday that three key areas of disagreement had been resolved, but that one key issue still remained. He did not elaborate.

Israel and Hamas are considering a new US-backed ceasefire proposal that would pause the war, free Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and send much-needed aid into Gaza.

After the second meeting, Mr Netanyahu said he and Mr Trump also discussed the “great victory” over Iran from Israeli and US strikes during the 12-day war that ended two weeks ago.

“Opportunities have been opened here for expanding the circle of peace, for expanding the Abraham Accords,” said Mr Netanyahu, referring to normalisation agreements between Israel and multiple Arab nations that were brokered by Mr Trump in his first term.

Washington has been pushing for normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The war started after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in earlier ceasefires.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The United Nations and other international organisations see the ministry’s figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.