Israel steps up military offensive in Gaza amid renewed truce efforts
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[June 05, 2024]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel announced a new military campaign against Hamas
in central Gaza on Wednesday where Palestinian medics said dozens of
people had been killed in airstrikes, complicating expected talks
between mediators to try to finalise a ceasefire deal.
At least 44 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military strikes in
central Gaza Strip areas since Tuesday, health officials in the enclave
said.
"The sounds of bombardment didn't stop all night," said Aya, 30, a
displaced woman in Deir Al-Balah.
The Israeli military said jets were hitting Hamas militant targets in
central Gaza while ground forces were operating "in a focused manner
with guidance from intelligence" in the area of Al-Bureij - one of
Gaza's long established refugee settlements.
"The forces of the 98th Division began a precise campaign in the areas
of East Bureij and East Deir al-Balah, above and below ground at the
same time," an Israeli military statement said.
Residents said Israeli forces had sent tanks into Bureij and planes and
tanks pounded the nearby settlements of Al-Maghazi and Al-Nuseirat as
well as Deir Al-Balah city, where tanks have not invaded.
"Every time they speak about new truce talks, the occupation uses one
town or refugee camp as a pressuring card. Why should civilians, people
safe inside their homes or tents, pay the price? Why can't Arabs and the
world stop the war?" Aya told Reuters via a chat app.
CEASEFIRE TALKS IN DOHA AND CAIRO
Aya, like many in the Gaza Strip, said people were hopeful about reports
in Egyptian state media that officials from the United States, Qatar,
and Egypt would meet in Doha on Wednesday to try to advance a ceasefire
deal that would also free some Israeli hostages and Palestinian
prisoners.
"We are waiting for a response from Hamas" through the Qatari mediators,
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on
Tuesday, referring to a ceasefire proposal that U.S. President Joe Biden
revealed on Friday.
Qatar said on Tuesday that the proposal was now much closer to the
positions of both sides.
Hamas has said it views the contents of the plan positively and has
criticised Washington for what it described as attempts to blame the
Palestinian militant group for hampering it.
But a spokesman for Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, reiterated
on Tuesday it could not agree to any deal unless Israel makes a "clear"
commitment to a permanent truce and complete withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel says it cannot do that until Hamas is wiped out.
U.S. officials say that since it is an Israeli plan, Israel is likely to
accept it. Qatar has said Israel needs to give a clear position on the
plan that represents the whole government, parts of which have opposed
any kind of truce.
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A woman reacts during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli
strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir
Al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip June 5, 2024. REUTERS/Doaa Rouqa
Also on Wednesday, a delegation of the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad
group arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks, the group said in a
statement. It said the delegation led by Islamic Jihad chief Ziad
al-Nakhala would discuss with Egyptian mediators ways to "end the
Zionist aggression on Gaza Strip and efforts to send aid."
The new Israeli military campaign in central Gaza forced some
families to leave their homes in Al-Maghazi and Al-Burej and head
towards Deir Al-Balah, which is already sheltering hundreds of
thousands of Gazans displaced by violence elsewhere.
The Israeli military also gave an update on Rafah, into which
Israeli forces swept last month in what the military calls a limited
operation to root out Hamas' last intact combat units after almost
eight months of war in the Gaza Strip.
"The forces found combat means and eliminated armed saboteurs who
operated nearby and posed a threat," the military said.
The small city fringing Gaza's southern border with Egypt had been
sheltering about one million Palestinians who fled Israeli assaults
in other parts of the enclave, but most have fled again in the face
of Israel's tank-led advance.
Residents in Rafah said Israeli tanks mounted raids into the centre
and deeper into the west before retreating east and south again.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) issued a new
plea for a ceasefire on Wednesday on X.
"The war in #Gaza has upended millions of Palestinian lives & caused
catastrophic damage to the natural environment that they depend upon
for water, clean air, food & livelihoods. Restoring environmental
services will take decades - & cannot even start until a
#ceasefire," it said.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas as it launched an air and ground
offensive in Gaza last October after militants stormed across the
border into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people
and taking more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli
tallies. About 120 hostages remain in Gaza.
The Israeli military campaign has killed more than 36,000 people in
densely populated Gaza, according to its health authorities, who say
thousands more bodies are buried under rubble.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Philippa
Fletcher)
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