Palestinians grab supplies from a humanitarian aid truck as it crosses into the Gaza Strip in Rafah on December 17. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinians grab supplies from a humanitarian aid truck as it crosses into the Gaza Strip in Rafah on December 17. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Hamas’ top leader travelled to Cairo for talks on the war in Gaza, part of a flurry of diplomacy aimed at securing another ceasefire and swap of hostages for Palestinian prisoners at a moment when Israel’s offensive shows no signs of slowing.
Hamas militants have been putting up stiff resistance, even as the Israeli army claims to be making great progress in eradicating them. The visit to Cairo by its top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, came a day after Hamas fired rockets that set off air raid sirens in central Israel. It was a show of strength after a 10-week war that has devastated much of northern Gaza, killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians, and driven some 1.9 million — nearly 85 per cent of the population — from their homes.
An Israeli air strike hit an area near the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza while Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud was live on air. pic.twitter.com/LKszfK4pQK
Israel has called on the rest of the world to blacklist Hamas as a terrorist organisation, saying it must be removed from power in Gaza in the wake of its October 7 rampage across southern Israel that triggered the war.
But the sides have recently relaunched indirect talks, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. The goal is to achieve another ceasefire, and to free more hostages Hamas took in its attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
“These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope that they lead somewhere,” the White House’s national security spokesman, John Kirby, said on Wednesday aboard Air Force One while travelling with President Joe Biden to Wisconsin.
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Photo / AP
Mobile phone and internet service was down across Gaza again, an outage that could complicate efforts to communicate with Hamas leaders inside the territory who went into hiding after October 7.
The war has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Tens of thousands of people are crammed into overcrowded shelters and tent camps amid shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies. Israel’s foreign minister travelled to Cyprus to discuss the possibility of establishing a maritime corridor that would allow the delivery of large amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Wide gap remains in talks on hostages
Despite a burst of diplomacy by high-level officials in recent days, the two sides appeared to be far from an agreement.
Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war ends, and is expected to insist on the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-level militants, for the captives that remain.
Israel has rejected the demands so far. But it has a history of lopsided exchanges for captive Israelis, and the government is under heavy public pressure to bring the hostages home safely.
Egypt, along with Qatar, helped mediate a weeklong ceasefire in November in which Hamas freed over 100 hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of 240 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas and other militants are still holding an estimated 129 captives.
Hamas said that Haniyeh — who is believed to be based in Qatar but whose movements are rarely publicised — would discuss the war with Egyptian officials, without providing more details.
Palestinian boys transport water looted from the humanitarian aid trucks during the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the border with Egypt in Rafah. Photo / AP
Ziad Nakhaleh, the leader of the smaller Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which took part in the October 7 attack and is also holding hostages, said he would also be going to Egypt in the coming days to participate in the talks.
Egypt, which borders Gaza, is deeply concerned about a potential influx of Palestinian refugees, fearing Israel will not allow them to return.
Israel says ‘final clearing’ under way in the Northern Gaza
At least 46 people were killed and more than 100 wounded after Israel bombarded the urban Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City, according to Munir al-Bursh, a senior Health Ministry official.
In southern Gaza, several women and children were among those brought into Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis after strikes overnight and into Wednesday. A boy could be seen sobbing next to his wounded mother, who was laid out on a stretcher, before being lifted up and placed on her chest.
At least five people were killed and dozens injured in another strike that hit three residential homes and a mosque in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, health officials said.
🚨Breaking: The Israeli army demolished 56 buildings in the Shuja'iya neighborhood of #Gaza this morning !
In the video,a voice of one of the israeli officers can be heard saying “Brigade 828 sends its greetings to Shuja'iya & from here,victory begins ” pic.twitter.com/k8FFKP7zFF
With the death toll steadily rising, Israel has come under growing pressure to halt or scale back its offensive. But Israeli leaders vow to press ahead until Hamas’ military and governing capabilities are destroyed and until all hostages are freed.
“We will continue the war until the end. It will continue until Hamas is destroyed, until victory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. “Whoever thinks we will stop is detached from reality,” saying every member of Hamas is “marked for death”.
His defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Tuesday that in southern Gaza, where the military launched a ground incursion focused on Khan Younis in early December, operations will take “months”.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll since the start of the war had risen to more than 19,600.
Hamas and other militants killed some 1200 people in the October 7 attack.
Israel’s military says 134 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. Israel says it has killed some 7000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields when it fights in residential areas.
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. Photo / AP
UN members still pushing US on aid resolution
UN Security Council members are negotiating an Arab-sponsored resolution to halt the fighting in some way to allow for an increase in desperately needed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza. A vote on the resolution, first scheduled for Monday, was pushed back again until Wednesday as talks continued in the hopes of getting the US to abstain or vote “yes” on the resolution after it vetoed an earlier ceasefire call.
France, the United Kingdom and Germany — some of Israel’s closest allies — joined global calls for a ceasefire over the weekend.
The Biden administration has called on Israel to take greater steps to spare civilians but has continued to provide diplomatic and military support for the offensive.
Kirby said on Wednesday that it’s important that a resolution include a condemnation of Hamas’ actions on October 7, recognition that Israel needs to be able to defend itself and a significant commitment by member states to get humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
