GAZA STRIP: Israel has agreed to resume Gaza ceasefire talks next week at the request of international mediators, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, after intensive diplomatic efforts aimed at averting a region-wide conflagration.
The announcement followed an Iranian claim that Israel wants to spread war in the Middle East, as well as repeated accusations by Hamas, some analysts, and critics in Israel that Netanyahu has prolonged the fighting in Gaza.
Israel’s military on Thursday said troops had begun operations in the area of Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza city from which Israeli soldiers had withdrawn in April after months of fierce fighting with Hamas.
Israel has vowed to destroy the Palestinian movement but during 10 months of war across Gaza has found itself returning to some areas to fight the Hamas again.
“Enough, for both, the Jews and Hamas!” shouted Khan Yunis resident Ahmed al-Najjar.
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“Have mercy on us for God’s sake, the young children and women are dying in the streets. Enough! Where will the people go?”
After the military issued an evacuation order for parts of Khan Yunis, AFPTV images showed a crowd of people flowing through dusty, damaged streets on foot or on donkey and motorcycle carts piled with belongings as horns honked.
“We’ve been displaced 15 times,” said Mohammed Abdeen.
Hamas’s unprecedented October attack on Israel started the war in Gaza that has pulled in Iran-aligned groups in neighbouring countries. Following vows of vengeance after the killing of two senior Hamas leaders, fears of a broader Middle East war have surged.
There has been only one truce in the Gaza fighting, a week-long pause in November that saw Israeli hostages held by Hamas freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
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