Mexico City prosecutors sought Thursday to downplay the case of a suspected serial killer who kept women’s bones and a saw in his room, and apparently targeted women over the course of more than a decade.

The city’s head prosecutor said the remains of six women were found in the suspect’s rented room, “not 20 as some unfounded reports have suggested.”

POLICE FIND 7 BODIES, 5 OF THEM DECAPITATED AND 1 DISMEMBERED, IN MEXICO’S FIFTH LARGEST CITY

City prosecutor Ulises Lara stressed that only three of his crimes occurred during the present administration, which took office in late 2018. He said the others apparently occurred in 2012, 2015 and 2018, meaning the killer went uncaught for at least 12 years.

Lara slammed reports that all the crimes took place in 2023 and 2024 — during the term of ex-Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is now running for president — as “absolutely false and unfounded.”

And Lara claimed the killer was essentially unstoppable because “he showed no signs of violent or aggressive behavior in his daily life.”

Lara did not specify the nature of the remains found in a search of the suspect’s rented rooms last week, but local media reported they were skulls. Under Mexican law, the suspect can only be identified by his first name, “Miguel.” Local media reported he worked as a chemist.

Investigators also found blood stains, bones, a saw, cellphones and missing women’s ID cards, as well as other “biological material” in the rooms. Lara said five of the ID cards belonged to women who have been located alive, but did not say how many belonged to women who are still missing or among the dead.

Last week, Lara said investigators also found “a series of notebooks that may well be narrations of the acts that Miguel carried out against his victims.”

Lara rejected criticisms that Mexico City authorities do little to investigate the cases of missing women until their bodies pile up, saying the number of reported women’s killings have declined.

But the suspect in this case wasn’t caught until he broke into a neighbor’s apartment to kill his seventh victim last week, was interrupted and left a surviving witness.

According to prosecutors, the suspect apparently waited for a woman to briefly leave her apartment last week and then rushed in and sexually abused and strangled her 17-year-old daughter.

The mother returned and saw him leaving, but he slashed her in the neck and fled. The mother survived but her daughter did not.

Because the suspect lived near the scene of the crime, he was quickly identified and caught.

The suspect has been held over for trial on charges of murder and attempted murder, both related to his latest victims.

Without proper funding, training or professionalism, prosecutors in Mexico’s capital have routinely failed to stop killers until the bodies pile up so high they are almost unavoidable.

In 2021, a serial killer in a Mexico City suburb was only caught after years of alleged crimes — 19 bodies were found hacked up and buried at his house — because of the identity of the final dismembered victim: the wife of a police commander.

In 2018, a serial killer in Mexico City responsible for the deaths of at least 10 women was caught only after he was found pushing a dismembered body down the street in a baby carriage. He dumped most of the bodies of his victims in vacant lots.

Palestinian group Hamas has said it remains committed to achieving an agreement with Israel to end the war on Gaza, but only if its conditions including a lasting ceasefire are met.

Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group’s political bureau, said that Hamas “is serious about releasing Israeli captives within the framework of an agreement” that also ensures the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

He told Al Jazeera Arabic in a televised interview on Thursday that Hamas will not accept a truce without a permanent ceasefire and a complete halt of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 34,000 people – mainly women and children – since the current conflict started in October.

An “unhindered return” of Palestinians across the besieged enclave to their homes, along with the reconstruction of Gaza and “an end to the crippling siege” imposed on it were among the four conditions that al-Hayya reiterated.

Hamas had submitted its response to a United States amendment on April 13 and is still waiting for a reply from Israel and the mediating parties, he said.

Talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been in limbo with the two sides showing few signs that they are ready to compromise on their demands, but international mediators – Qatar, the United States and Egypt – have been engaged in intense behind-the-scenes talks to secure a deal.

Top Israeli officials have repeatedly called Hamas’s demands “delusional” and have said an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would amount to losing the war.

Egypt has asked for a follow-up meeting with Israel in renewed efforts to mediate a deal, two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency.

Egyptian, Israeli and US officials reportedly held in-person and remote meetings on Wednesday that sought concessions to break the deadlock in the months-long negotiations, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli officials is expected to take place on Friday in Cairo.

The US and 17 other countries issued an appeal for Hamas to release captives as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza.

“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now for over 200 days,” read the statement on Thursday by the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

It said that the “deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities”.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna pointed out that the statement appears to be trying to step up pressure on Hamas amid ongoing attempts at negotiation.

“There’s no mention whatsoever of any concomitant release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel by the Israeli government, but this is stepping up pressure on Hamas, it would appear, as these negotiations grind forward,” he said.

The renewed effort to continue the talks is shaping up as Israel has significantly increased its military activities across the enclave and is proceeding with plans for a ground invasion of Rafah in the south, where some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter.

The humanitarian situation in Rafah – bordering Egypt – and across Gaza remains dire, with the United Nations and others repeatedly stressing the need for Israel to allow more aid in.

Eleven-year-old Husam is one of more than 600,000 children who have sought refuge in Rafah which was designated a “safe zone” even as the Israeli military continues to pound it from the air in preparation for a ground assault.

“We’re afraid people will resort to killing each other for food,” he told Al Jazeera.

“A person’s psyche wears out with fear. It’s a slow death.”

[MUSIC PLAYING] On April 1, an Israeli drone targeted a convoy of white cars, killing seven World Central Kitchen workers. The group, based in Washington, D.C., had coordinated the convoy’s route with the Israel Defense Forces, or I.D.F. “We were doing the right protocols. We were engaging with the I.D.F. in the way we all should be doing. Like every minute, everybody knew where everybody was.” This process is called deconfliction, a wartime safety system aid groups use around the world to help combatants compile a list of humanitarian locations in order to avoid accidental attacks. – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] More than 200 aid workers have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the United Nations. In the case of the World Central Kitchen, or W.C.K., the I.D.F. called the strike a grave mistake that can happen when fighting an enemy that embeds in the civilian population. “The W.C.K. coordinated everything correctly with the I.D.F. in advance. This operational misidentification and misclassification was the result of internal failures.” But these internal failures were not new. Using visual evidence and internal communications obtained by The Times, we examined strikes on six aid group operations that came under Israeli fire despite using the I.D.F.’s deconfliction system. These humanitarian organizations have a direct line to the Israeli military, and come from Western countries, including Israel’s strongest allies. Some of their operations were clearly marked. “Our flag. We identify it.” Or located in a special area Israel says is safe for civilians. It’s not clear whether the I.D.F. failed to alert their targeting teams about the presence of civilians, or if they decided eliminating a target was more important. But the pattern of attacks shows that in Israel’s battle against Hamas, not even the places with every available avenue of protection are safe from I.D.F. strikes. Israel has said that it has deconflicted thousands of humanitarian convoys successfully. In response to questions from The Times, the I.D.F. said it has been targeting military targets in order to dismantle Hamas, but is committed to all international legal obligations, and has put in place detailed regulations for dealing with sensitive sites. Weeks before the World Central Kitchen strike, a logistics coordinator for another American aid group called ANERA returned home after distributing supplies. Mousa Shawa was still wearing his ANERA vest when an Israeli strike hit the house, killing him; his 6-year-old son, Kareem; and several neighbors. – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Mousa had worked at ANERA for 13 years and felt grateful to have a job that would keep his family safe, his wife, Dua, told The Times. – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] ANERA shared emails with The Times showing they’d repeatedly sent the I.D.F. coordinates and photos of their staff shelters, including the two-story residential building where Mousa’s family and others had been living since the war began. Israeli officials confirmed the location was being processed in their system. On March 4, in response to a request from the I.D.F., ANERA sent this email to ensure their warehouses and shelters, including Mousa’s, were still registered in Israel’s deconfliction system. But just four days later, the house was blown apart. Visual evidence shows it was a surgical strike in a dense cluster of houses. All were left essentially untouched, but one, which had only the top floor destroyed. Munitions experts told The Times this kind of targeted damage points to a precision Israeli air-dropped bomb. – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] In a statement to The Times, the I.D.F. said it targeted a Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 attack, and expects military investigators to examine the strike. ANERA said they’ve received, quote, “No information about who or what may have been targeted, or why,” and want an independent investigation into how a location repeatedly deconflicted with the I.D.F. came under attack. Before the strike on Mousa’s house, Doctors Without Borders said two staff shelters registered with Israel’s deconfliction system came under fire without warning or official explanation. “We’ve seen tracers going towards the sea.” At this shelter on January 8, the aid group said a projectile was fired through the building, killing a 5-year-old girl. – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Photographs show the remnants of an Israeli tank shell lying outside. In February at a different Doctors Without Borders staff shelter, two family members were killed when incoming fire set off an explosion. Seven others, mostly women and children, were injured. Visuals of the aftermath show a large Doctors Without Borders flag clearly marked the building. The entry point of the munition and the damage left behind suggests a medium- to large-caliber weapon, experts said. According to the aid group, it was an Israeli tank shell. The I.D.F. previously told British broadcaster Sky News they fired because they had identified, quote, “Terror activity at the building.” In a statement to The Times, the I.D.F. denied striking the first shelter on January 8 and said the second incident will be reviewed by military investigators. Doctors Without Borders refuted any allegations of terror activity in their facilities, and said the attacks on civilian spaces show that nowhere in Gaza is safe. What went wrong in the deconfliction system is still not clear to the aid group. “This pattern of attacks is either intentional or indicative of reckless incompetence.” The very same questions would be raised in the British Parliament after another strike, which was examined by The Times. On the morning of January 18, this building was rocked by a giant explosion. A bomb landed on the wall around the compound, which was being used to house medical staff from the International Rescue Committee, based in the U.S., and the U.K. group Medical Aid for Palestinians, whose logo is visible on bedding and luggage in the wreckage. Several people were injured. Six medical workers were withdrawn from Gaza. Text messages between aid staff and an I.D.F. official reviewed by The Times show that a month before the attack, the Israeli military was aware of the compound’s location. When the aid worker asks, “So we can bring them to this chalet? It is still safe?” The I.D.F. response is, “Yes.” The compound had two additional layers of protection. British officials, The Times confirmed, used high-level diplomatic channels to ensure the compound was deconflicted. And it was located in the neighborhood that Israel has repeatedly designated as the humanitarian zone, safe for civilians. In a U.N. report reviewed by The Times, investigators indicated the crater and munition debris most likely point to an MK 83, which is a 1,000-pound bomb made in the U.S. “Strikes still took place. So —” British lawmakers demanded answers. “What investigation is being conducted? What has been the response of the I.D.F. to this? Has H.M.G. seen the targeting permissions for that airstrike?” After weeks of high-level pressure — “It was raised by the foreign secretary in his meetings in Israel last week.” Israel provided six different, and often conflicting, explanations, according to the aid groups. Sometimes Israel said they were “not operating in that area.” Other times, they claimed their bomb was attempting to hit a target adjacent to the compound. They also said what struck the compound wasn’t actually a bomb, but a “piece of aircraft fuselage.” The I.D.F. told The Times they did not strike the location at all on January 18. After the strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy, which unleashed global outrage, Israel’s response was much more swift and clear. Israeli officials launched a new humanitarian coordination cell, fired commanders and opened new aid access points. But after months of Israel’s war against Hamas — – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] questions remain about to what extent the I.D.F. will hold their fire in places where aid workers or civilians are present.