CAIRO:
A senior official of the militant Islamist group Hamas, Osama Hamdan, said on Saturday that there had been no progress in ceasefire talks with Israel over the Gaza war.
The Palestinian group is still ready to “respond positively” to any ceasefire proposal that ends the war, Hamdan told a news conference in Beirut.
Efforts by Arab mediators, backed by the United States, have so far failed to produce a truce, with both sides blaming each other for the impasse. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring about Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will only accept temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is eliminated.
Hamdan also accused the United States of pressuring Hamas to accept Israel’s terms.
“Once again, Hamas is ready to respond positively to any proposal that ensures a permanent ceasefire, a total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a serious exchange agreement,” Hamdan said, referring to a possible exchange of hostages held in Gaza with Palestinians in Israeli prisons. .
The Israeli offensive has so far killed nearly 38,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.
Gaza’s health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but officials say most of the dead are civilians. Israel has lost more than 300 soldiers in Gaza and says at least a third of the dead Palestinians are militants.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli military raids across the enclave have so far killed at least 35 people and injured others on Saturday.
The Israeli army on Saturday announced the death of two soldiers killed in fighting in northern Gaza as Israeli forces continue their offensive in the Shejaia neighborhood of Gaza City.
Residents said tanks advanced deeper into several districts, including the area around the local market, and there was heavy air and ground fire.
Hamas’s armed wing and allied Islamic Jihad reported heavy fighting, saying militants fired anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs at forces operating there.
The Israeli military said dozens of Palestinian militants were killed in the past two days in fighting and airstrikes in Sejaia, after forces surrounded a civilian area turned by Hamas into a militant compound.
“In the area, troops located observation posts, weapons, enemy drones and a long-range rocket launcher near schools,” the military said in a statement.
Hamas has denied claims that it is operating in civilian areas such as schools and hospitals.
More than eight months into Israel’s air and ground war on Gaza, militants have continued to carry out attacks against Israeli forces, operating in areas the Israeli military said it gained control of months ago.
Israeli leaders said last week that the intense phase of the war was coming to an end and that the next stage of the offensive would be mostly smaller-scale operations aimed at stopping the Hamas buildup.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces operating in several neighborhoods in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, have killed several Palestinians and forced families living in the western edge of the city along the coastal areas to head north, according to Palestinian medical officials. and residents.
Israel has said its military operations in Rafah are aimed at eliminating the last of Hamas’ armed battalions.
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