Published: 17:03, July 11, 2024
Bodies trapped in Gaza under Israeli assault as mediators push for truce
By Reuters
This handout picture released by the Israeli army on July 11, 2024 shows an Israeli army battle tank moving during operations in the Gaza Strip. (PHOTO / ISRAELI ARMY VIA AFP)

CAIRO - Residents of Gaza City were trapped in houses and bodies lay uncollected in the streets under an intense new Israeli assault on Thursday, even as Washington pushed for a peace deal at talks in Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas militants say a massive Israeli assault on Gaza City this week could wreck efforts to finally end the war just as negotiations have entered the home stretch.

Home to more than a quarter of Gaza's residents before the war, Gaza City was destroyed during the first weeks of fighting last year, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to homes in the ruins. They have now once again been ordered out by the Israeli military.

The Civil Emergency Service said it estimated that at least 30 people had been killed in the Tel Al-Hawa and Rimal areas and it could not recover bodies from the streets there

The Gaza health ministry said it had reports of people trapped and others killed inside their houses in the Tel Al Hawa and Sabra districts of Gaza City, and rescuers could not reach them.

READ MORE: Israel presses Gaza offensive hours after deadly airstrike on tent camp

The Civil Emergency Service said it estimated that at least 30 people had been killed in the Tel Al-Hawa and Rimal areas and it could not recover bodies from the streets there.

Despite army instructions on Wednesday to residents of Gaza City that they can use two "safe routes" to head south, many residents refused to heed the order. Some posted a hashtag on social media: "We are not leaving".

"We will die but not leave to the south. We have tolerated starvation and bombs for nine months and we are ready to die as martyrs here," said Mohammad Ali, 30, reached by text message.

ALSO READ: UN experts point to Israeli use of ‘starvation’ in ‘genocidal violence’

Ali, whose family has relocated several times within the city, said they had been running short of food, water and medicine.

"The occupation bombs Gaza City as if the war was restarting. We hope there will be a ceasefire soon, but if not then is God's will."

Palestinians walk past the destroyed buildings and rubble after the Israeli military withdrew from the Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City on July 10, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

Fighting in Rafah

Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip last year after Hamas-led militants stormed across the border fence into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's assault has killed more than 38,000 according to medical authorities in Gaza.

READ MORE: Hamas' armed wing claims killings of Israeli soldiers in Gaza

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israeli forces had quit the Shejaia suburb east of Gaza after over two weeks of a new military invasion, in which dozens of people were killed and residential districts were destroyed.

The negotiations in Qatar and Egypt follow important concessions last week from Hamas, which agreed that a truce could begin and some hostages released without Israel first agreeing to end the war

At the southern edge of the enclave in Rafah near the border with Egypt, where tanks have been operating in most of the city since May, residents said the army continued to blow up houses in the western and central areas, amid fighting with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other smaller factions.

Palestinian health officials said four people were killed, including a child, in an Israeli air strike in Tel Al-Sultan in western Rafah.

The Israeli military said earlier on Thursday around five rockets fired from the Rafah area were successfully intercepted.

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The negotiations in Qatar and Egypt follow important concessions last week from Hamas, which agreed that a truce could begin and some hostages released without Israel first agreeing to end the war.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip, July 10, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces opposition within his rightwing cabinet to any deal that would halt the war until Hamas is vanquished, says a deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until it meets all its objectives.

READ MORE: More than two dozen Gazans killed in Israeli strike as Hamas says truce talks may be in jeopardy

Two Hamas officials contacted by Reuters had no immediate comment on the content of the ongoing talks, led by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.

"There will be a meeting today between Hamas and the mediators to check on what responses they have received from the occupation," said one Palestinian official close to the mediation, without elaboration.