Extract from ABC News
Israeli forces killed more than 30 people in new attacks in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said on Saturday, the day after judges at the top United Nations court ordered Israel to halt its offensive on the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
Though Israel pressed on with its offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated negotiations between the two sides are due to restart next week, an official with knowledge of the matter told the Reuters news agency.
The decision on talks was made after the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency met the head of the CIA and the prime minister of Qatar, said the source, declining to be identified by name or nationality given the sensitivity of the matter.
After more than seven months of war in Gaza, the mediators have struggled to secure a breakthrough, with Israel seeking the release of hostages held by Hamas and Hamas seeking the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and an end to the war.
Fighting has continued in Gaza despite the mediation, and despite judges at the top United Nations court ordering Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah, where it says it is trying to root out Hamas fighters.
The International Court of Justice, or World Court, has no means to enforce its emergency ruling in the case brought by South Africa which accused Israel of genocide.
But the case was a stark sign of Israel's global isolation over its campaign in Gaza, particularly since it began its offensive against Rafah this month against the pleas of its closest ally, the United States.
More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza, Gaza's health ministry says.
Israel began the offensive after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Fighting in Rafah, Jabalia kills 31
The Israeli military said it had carried out "operational activity in specific areas of Rafah" on Friday, including killing militants, dismantling part of Hamas's tunnel system, and locating stashes of weapons.
The city had become a refuge for Gazans fleeing fighting elsewhere in the territory, however after Rafah became a target as well, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have since fled the city.
"The occupation forces keep the city under bombing, not only east where they invaded but at the centre and the western sides. They want to scare people to leave the whole city," said one Rafah resident, who asked not to be named.
So far, fighting has taken place on Rafah's southern edge and eastern districts, away from the most populated areas.
The United States has called on Israel not to enter more central neighbourhoods, saying Israel has yet to show a credible plan for how this can be done without causing mass casualties.
Further north in the coastal territory, where the Israeli military is trying to prevent Hamas from re-establishing its hold, the IDF said its troops in Jabalia "eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and aerial strikes".
Residents and civil emergency services said Israeli tanks entered deep into the area of Jabalia, north of Gaza City, destroying dozens of houses, shops, and roads.
Palestinian medical workers reported Israeli air strikes that killed at least 17 people.
A total of 31 Palestinians were killed in the past day in the Gaza Strip, according to local medical officials, which do not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, and the smaller armed group Islamic Jihad said their fighters had fired anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs at Israeli troops in the north.
Egypt agrees to allow aid trucks
Egypt on Friday said it had agreed to send United Nations humanitarian aid trucks through Israel's main crossing into Gaza, but it was unclear if they would be able to enter the territory as fighting raged on in Rafah.
Gaza's humanitarian crisis has spiralled as the United Nations and other aid agencies say the entry of food and other supplies to them has plunged dramatically since Israel's Rafah offensive began more than two weeks ago.
At the heart of the problem lie the two main crossings through which around 300 trucks of aid a day had been flowing into Gaza before the offensive began.
Israeli troops seized the Rafah crossing into Egypt, which has been inoperative since. The nearby Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza has remained open, and Israel says it has been sending hundreds of trucks a day into it.
But while commercial trucks have successfully crossed, the UN says it cannot reach Kerem Shalom to pick up aid as it enters because fighting in the area makes it too dangerous.
As a result, the UN says it has received only 143 trucks from the crossing in the past 19 days. Hundreds of truckloads have been sitting on the Gaza side of the crossing unretrieved, according to Israeli officials, who say UN manpower limitations are to blame.
The UN and other aid agencies had to rely on the far smaller number of trucks entering daily from a single crossing in northern Gaza, and via a US.-built pier bringing supplies by sea.
Meanwhile, aid workers warn Gaza is near famine, and UNRWA, the main UN agency in the humanitarian effort, has had to halt food distribution in Rafah because it has run out of supplies.
The Egyptian announcement appeared to resolve a political obstacle on one side of the border.
Israel says it has kept the Rafah crossing open and has asked Egypt to coordinate with it on sending aid convoys through it, however Egypt has previously refused, fearing the Israeli hold will remain permanent, and demanded Palestinians be put back in charge of the facility.
The White House has been pressing Egypt to resume the flow of trucks.
Reuters/AP
No comments:
Post a Comment