Talks of a new effort at a cease-fire?
A wave of Israeli airstrikes on encampments for displaced Palestinians has killed at least 40 people across Gaza, as Hamas officials said consultations on response to Israel truce offer “almost complete”.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said two Israeli missiles hit several tents in the al-Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Younis, resulting in at least 16 deaths, most of them women and children, and 23 others were wounded.
Two additional strikes on other encampments of displaced people killed eight and wounded several more, Bassal said.
Seven were killed in a strike on tents in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, while another attack near the al-Mawasi area killed a father and his child who were living in a tent, he said.
“We were sitting peacefully in the tent, under God’s protection, when we suddenly saw something red glowing – and then the tent exploded, and the surrounding tents caught fire,” Israa Abu al-Rus told AFP.
“This is supposed to be a safe area in al-Mawasi,” Abu al-Rus said. “We fled the tent towards the sea and saw the tents burning.”
Separately, civil defence reported two more attacks on displaced people in Jabalia – one that killed at least seven members of the Asaliya family, and another that killed six people at a school being used as a shelter – as well as Israeli shelling in Gaza City that killed two.
The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of the strikes, claiming that the army had targeted what it said was a Hamas “command and control” centre in Jabalia.
Hamas accused Israel of attempting to starve the population of Gaza…..
…
Hamas said Israel had proposed a new 45-day ceasefire through mediators that would include the release of dozens of hostages.
The proposal also called for Hamas to disarm to secure a complete end to the war, a demand the group rejects.
However, a ceasefire agreement still looks distant, as divisions persist between the two sides.
Efforts by mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US to restore the collapsed ceasefire in Gaza and return the hostages have continued to hit stumbling blocks.
Katz said that no matter what deal was agreed, Israeli troops would remain in the buffer zones it had occupied in Gaza, as well as in neighbouring Syria and Lebanon….
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.