CAIRO: Israeli forces resumed operations near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on Monday amid an international push to end the fighting in Gaza and stem the conflict in the wider region. against Iran and its proxies.
Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes in several areas of Khan Younis on Monday killed at least 16 people and wounded many others. Meanwhile, many families and evacuees rushed out of the threatened area due to a new evacuation order telling people to clear the area.
As fighting continued in many parts of the Gaza Strip, Hamas cast doubt on the latest round of Egyptian-Qatari negotiations held on Thursday, saying there was no sign of action from the Israeli side.
The group said in a statement on Sunday that negotiators must force Israel to accept a cease-fire proposal based on the ideas given by US President Joe Biden, which Hamas accepted, “but not to continue negotiations or new proposals that will hide the violence of the occupation.”
Two sources close to Hamas said the group is convinced that the new call for talks was pre-arranged with Israel to prevent a response from Iran and Hezbollah to the killing of its leader. group of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the head of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“You could say soft denial. If Hamas gets a viable plan, a positive Israeli response to the proposal it has accepted, things could change, but so far Hamas believes that Netanyahu is not serious about making a deal,” said a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort.
Hamas's move for talks comes as preparations for a larger conflict ramp up, with Washington ordering guided missile submarines to the Middle East and the Abraham Lincoln strike group accelerating their deployment to the region.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Iran is preparing for a major military attack on Israel, Barack Ravid, a prominent reporter for Axios News reported in Twitter.
Israel has been bracing for a major offensive since last month when a rocket attack killed 12 teenagers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel responded by killing a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
A day after that event, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran, prompting Iran to vow revenge against Israel.
The possible escalation underscored how far the Middle East has been thrown into chaos by the conflict in Gaza, which is now in its 11th month.
Attacks by Hamas on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip have killed about 1,200 people and taken more than 250 captives to Gaza, according to Israeli reports, in a of the most devastating blows to Israel in its history.
In response, the Israeli army razed Gaza, expelling most of the population and killing some 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian health minister, in a war that shocked the world.
On Saturday, dozens of people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school building in Gaza City that the military said was aimed at fighters from the armed wing of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Gaza health officials said most of the dead were civilians, but Israel said at least a third were fighters. Israel says it has lost 329 soldiers in Gaza.
