Israel bombed the center of the city on Wednesday Gaza Strip in its offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, amid new efforts by mediators to achieve a ceasefire.
Almost a month after the start of the ground offensive against Rafahin the south of the Palestinian enclave, which Israel presented as the final stage of the war, fighting has intensified in recent days in the center of the Strip.
The Israeli army confirmed that it was carrying out operations in Bureij and Deir al Balah, in the center, and said it had “eliminated” several members of the Islamist group. At the same time, Israeli soldiers continue their actions in the Rafah area, he said in a statement.
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their few belongings, left the Bureij camp in search of a safer place, AFP correspondents reported. During the night, a shelling near the entrance to the camp and artillery fire in the southeast of Deir al Balah caused several casualties, according to witnesses.
After almost eight months of war, Egypt, the United States and Qatar, the mediating countries, continue their efforts to get Israel and Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement, days after a proposal from the American president Joe Biden.
The plan presented by Biden – who assured that it was proposed by Israel – provides for a six-week ceasefire along with the Israeli withdrawal from the most populated areas of Gaza, the release of some hostages, especially women and the sick, and of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
A Qatari source said CIA Director William Burns was traveling to Doha on Wednesday to “continue working with mediators and conclude an agreement” on a ceasefire.
“A clear position”
Al-Qahera News, a media outlet close to the Egyptian intelligence service, reported that an Egyptian delegation was due to meet with its Qatari and American counterparts in Doha.
According to the American website Axios, Biden’s special advisor for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, will also arrive in Cairo on Wednesday to promote the latest agreement proposal.
The war in Gaza Strip erupted following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Islamist commandos kidnapped 251 people and took them to Gaza. A truce at the end of November allowed the release of a hundred of them, but 120 were still held, of which 41 died, according to the Israeli army.
In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive in the Palestinian enclave that has left 36,586 dead, mostly women and children, according to the Ministry of Health of Gaza, a territory governed by Hamas since 2007.
The contradictory demands of the two sides leave little hope for Biden’s proposed plan to come to fruition.
Hamas insists on a “permanent ceasefire” while Israel wants to “destroy” the Islamist movement, considered “terrorist” by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
Qatar said it expected “a clear position” from Israel, which appeared to distance itself from the plan.
The Israeli war cabinet met Tuesday night to discuss the latest developments in the war in Gaza, shortly after the two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government announced their support for the US president’s proposal.
“Drinking wastewater”
According to Israeli public television Kan, the cabinet decided to ask USA guarantees to continue the war against Hamas in case the Islamist movement violates the agreement.
In northern Israel, on the border with Lebanon, there are daily exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and the Hezbollah movement, an ally of Hamas.
Rocket and drone fire from the Lebanese group caused several fires in northern Israel on Monday.
Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel is “ready for a very intense operation” on the border with Lebanon.
On a humanitarian level, the Oxfam organization denounced on Tuesday the “deplorable” sanitary conditions in the Al Mawasi area, near Khan Yunis, in the south.
Israeli bombings and blockades “make it virtually impossible” for humanitarian groups to access “trapped and starving” civilians, according to Oxfam.
The inhabitants of Gaza have been forced to “drink sewage” and eat animal food, denounced the regional head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Source: Gestion
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