Israeli shelling leaves 19 dead in Gaza as ceasefire talks continue

CAIRO:

The horrific Israeli attack has claimed the lives of at least 19 people, including two police officers helping humanitarian efforts in Gaza’s Rafah.

17 of the deaths, they said, were in separate Israeli airstrikes on the al-Bureij and al-Maghazi refugee camps and the central Gaza city of Deir-al-Balah, and as of late Tuesday tanks were shelling an area just east of Gaza. al-Nusseirat camp, residents said.

Some told Reuters via the chat app that the renewed Israeli military push was sowing panic, with some families living in al-Maghazi starting to flee under tank fire, with four shells landing near a clinic in the camp.

In a brief statement issued earlier in the day, the Israeli military said aircraft were striking Hamas militant targets in central Gaza while ground forces were operating “in a focused, intelligence-led manner” in the al-Bureij area.

He gave no update on the activity in Rafah, which Israeli forces were swept into last month in a limited operation to eliminate the last intact Hamas fighting units after nearly eight months of devastating war in the Gaza Strip.

The small city straddling Gaza’s southern border with Egypt had sheltered about a million Palestinians fleeing Israeli attacks elsewhere in the enclave, but most fled again in the face of advancing Israeli tanks.

Israel launched an air and ground assault on Gaza last October, vowing to destroy Hamas after freedom fighters stormed across the border into southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli imputations. About 120 hostages remain in Gaza.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 36,000 people in densely populated Gaza, according to its health authorities, who say thousands more are buried under rubble.

Qatar said on Tuesday it had delivered an Israeli ceasefire proposal to Hamas, which mirrors a three-phase proposal presented by US President Joe Biden on Friday, and that the newspaper is now much closer to the positions of both sides.

Qatar, which mediates in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, also stressed that there must be a clear position from both sides to reach an agreement, its foreign ministry spokesman told a news conference.

“The ceasefire agreement should immediately end the suffering of all people in Gaza and the hostages and their families and provide a road map for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the (humanitarian) crisis,” Majed said. al-Ansari.

But a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist resistance group that has ruled Gaza since 2007, reiterated on Tuesday that it could not agree to any deal unless Israel committed to a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal from Gaza.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated that there can be no lasting peace unless Hamas is eliminated, as he grapples with deep political divisions at home over the US-backed truce proposal.

A Netanyahu aide said Sunday Israel accepted the framework proposed by Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work.

On Tuesday, its biggest coalition partner said it would support such a deal even if it involves a review of war strategy. However, Netanyahu’s far-right allies in the government have threatened to table and tear it down if he ends the war in Gaza without eliminating Hamas.

Biden’s framework proposal includes in its first stage a six-week ceasefire, when Israeli forces would withdraw from “all residential areas” of Gaza and some hostages – including elderly people and women – would be released by Hamas in exchange for hundreds Palestinian prisoners.

Under that plan, Hamas and Israel would negotiate at the same time a permanent cease-fire that Biden said would last “as long as Hamas keeps its commitments.”

In the second phase, Biden said there would be an exchange for all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire would begin. The final stage of the plan will involve rebuilding the shattered coastal enclave.

Biden’s Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, will travel to the region this week to push for a hostage deal and ceasefire, a US official told Reuters on Tuesday.