Israeli forces continued their operations near the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis on Saturday amid international pressure to reach an agreement to end the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and prevent a wider regional conflict with Iran and its allies, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Palestinian doctors said Israeli military strikes in several areas of Khan Younis on Saturday killed at least 16 people and wounded several others. Meanwhile, more families and displaced people have moved out of areas threatened by new evacuation orders.
As fighting continued in several areas of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian armed group "Hamas" reacted skeptically to the latest round of talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar, which are due to take place on Thursday, saying it saw no signs of movement from the Israeli side.
In a statement yesterday, the group said the mediators must force Israel to accept a ceasefire proposal based on ideas from US President Joe Biden, which "Hamas" has accepted, "instead of seeking further rounds of talks or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation's aggression".
Two sources close to "Hamas" told Reuters that the group believed the new call for talks had been pre-coordinated with Israel to deter reactions from Iran and the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah" in connection with the assassination in Tehran of "Hamas" political leader Ismail Haniyeh and of the Shiite group's senior military commander and head of its strategic unit, Fuad Shukr.
"One could say that this is not a categorical rejection (of the possibility of talks). If "Hamas" "Hamas has a working plan, a positive Israeli response to the proposal that (the group) had accepted, things could change, but for now, Hamas believes that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has no serious intentions to reach an agreement," a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts said.
Hamas's reaction to the talks comes as preparations for a larger confrontation have intensified, with Washington ordering the deployment of a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East and the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group accelerating its deployment to the region.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, that Iran is preparing for a major military attack on Israel, the Exxon Mobil reported. Barak Ravid, a well-informed reporter for "Axios News".
Israel has been preparing for a major attack since last month, when a rocket attack killed 12 young men and children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and in response, Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut. The day after that operation, Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran, prompting threats of retaliation against Israel, Reuters notes.
The potential escalation of tensions underscores the extent to which the Middle East has been shaken by the war in Gaza, now in its 11th month. According to Israeli data, the Hamas-led An attack on towns and kibbutzim in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages - one of the most devastating attacks on Israel in history.
In response to the cross-border attack, Israeli forces launched an offensive in Gaza, leveling some towns, displacing most of the population and killing about 40,000 people, according to the enclave's Hamas-controlled health ministry. Palestinian authorities have not said how many militants were killed or how many civilians.
On Saturday, hundreds of people were killed in Israeli strikes on a school building in Gaza City, which the Israeli military said were targeting fighters from the armed wings of Hamas and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. Gaza health authorities say most of the dead were civilians, but Israel believes at least a third of them were fighters, Reuters notes.