No letup in Gaza fighting as truce talks falter

GAZA CITY: Fighting continued between Islamic Jihad and Israel for a fifth day without any progress in the cease-fire negotiations taking place in Cairo.
Israel bombed locations in the Gaza Strip, including agricultural lands and open areas, as well as military sites and civilian homes.
Fifteen residential blocks have been destroyed since the latest round of fighting began last Tuesday, officials said on Saturday.
A total of 51 housing units have been completely demolished, 940 units partially damaged and 49 units left unfit for habitation, an official said.
Estimated value of the losses amounts to about $5 million, the official added.
Video clips published by journalists and activists on social media showed Israeli warplanes bombing a number of houses from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip.
Unless Israel is targeting a property with the aim of killing officials or members of Islamic Jihad, it informs residents to evacuate shortly before the site is destroyed.
Entisar Al-Masri, 67, said that neighbors told her that the Israeli army called them to ask the family to vacate their house.
Family members fled the property without taking anything and were in a state of shock, she told Arab News.
“We went out barefoot, with just the clothes we were wearing, and after half an hour, the rockets rained down and completely destroyed the house,” she said.
The property was about 3 km away from the Israeli security fence in the northern Gaza Strip and was inhabited by five families consisting of 19 people, mostly women and children.
“The house is the paradise of life and despite accepting that it was God’s will, it is very difficult to overcome the feeling of loss of the place we owned and loved for 40 years,” Al-Masri said.
Israel has been accused of destroying residential properties in wars and previous rounds of fighting to put pressure on Palestinian fighters.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said: “In the face of the continuation of assassinations, and the bombing of apartments and safe houses, the Palestinian resistance will renew its missile attacks on the occupied cities.
“The resistance has prepared itself for months of confrontation, and we have high spirits and popular support.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians attended the funeral of military commander Iyad Al-Hassani, who was killed by Israel on Friday in the Gaza Strip — the sixth high-ranking official to die since the beginning of the current conflict.
Islamic Jihad continued to fire rockets at Israeli towns and cities on Saturday following the failure of cease-fire talks.
Arab and Israeli media quoted various sources as saying that negotiations led by Cairo faltered because of a lack of agreement on a final version of the declaration.
Palestinian representatives are demanding that Israel first pledge to halt the assassination of Palestinian officials, while Israel rejects this and says it will only “meet calm with calm.”

No letup in Gaza fighting as truce talks falter