https://arab.news/76gpq
- The extent of the Israeli incursion into the urban refugee camp Tuesday was not immediately known
- The military statement said it was conducting “a precision operation” targeting Hamas positions
GAZA STRIP: The Israeli military says ground troops backed by airstrikes have launched an operation in central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp.
Local hospital officials say a strike in the camp killed 11 Palestinians, including three children and a woman.
The extent of the Israeli incursion into the urban refugee camp Tuesday was not immediately known. The military statement said it was conducting “a precision operation” targeting Hamas positions.
The Israeli airstrikes and ground offensives across the Gaza Strip come as international mediators wait for Israel and Hamas to respond to a new ceasefire and hostage release proposal, according to Qatar, which has played a key role in negotiations alongside Egypt and the United States.
A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group will not accept a deal with Israel that does not clearly lay out a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Announcing the proposal last week, US President Joe Biden said the three-phase plan was Israeli, however Israeli leaders have since appeared to distance themselves from the proposal and vowed to keep fighting Hamas until the group is destroyed.
Israeli bombardments and ground operations in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel’s expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians who are facing widespread hunger.
Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Around 80 hostages captured on Oct. 7 are believed to still be alive in Gaza, alongside the remains of 43 others.