Cairo: Israeli forces on Monday continued their operations near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis amid international pressure to reach an agreement to end the fighting in Gaza and avoid a wider regional conflict with Iran and its proxies. .
Palestinian doctors announced that Israeli military attacks on several areas in Khan Yunis on Monday left at least 16 dead and several wounded. Meanwhile, more families and displaced people have left areas threatened by the new evacuation orders, telling people to clear the area.
As fighting continued in several areas of the Gaza Strip, Hamas reacted with skepticism to the latest round of talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar, scheduled to take place on Thursday, saying it had seen no signs of movement from Israel.
The group said in a statement on Sunday that mediators should force Israel to accept a cease-fire proposal based on US President Joe Biden's ideas that Hamas accepted, “instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would be a cover for occupation aggression.” . “
Two sources close to Hamas said the group is convinced that the new call for talks was pre-arranged with Israel to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from reacting to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the group's leader in Tehran and a senior leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah. slow
“That's a mild rejection,” you might say. A Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said: “If Hamas receives a workable plan, a positive response from Israel to the proposal it accepted, the situation may change, but so far Hamas believes that Netanyahu is not serious about reaching an agreement.”
Hamas's response to the talks came as preparations for a larger-scale confrontation ramped up, with Washington ordering a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and the Abraham Lincoln Strike Group accelerating its deployment to the region.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Iran was preparing for a massive military attack on Israel, Axios News reporter Barak Ravid reported on Twitter.
Israel has been preparing for a major attack since last month, when a rocket attack killed 12 young men in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel responded by killing a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
A day after that operation, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran, and Iran vowed revenge against Israel.
The potential escalation showed the extent to which the Gaza war, now in its 11th month, has thrown the Middle East into turmoil.
The Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip killed around 1,200 people and captured more than 250 people in Gaza, according to Israeli figures, one of the most devastating strikes against Israel in its history.
In response, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli forces have razed Gaza to the ground, displacing most of the population and killing some 40,000 people in a war that has caused terror around the world.
On Saturday, dozens of people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on a school in Gaza City, which the army said were targeted by fighters from the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Gaza health officials say most of the casualties were civilians, but Israel says at least a third are fighters. Israel says it has lost 329 soldiers in Gaza.
