© Reuters. Satellite tv for pc view of the U.S. navy outpost referred to as Tower 22, in Rukban, Rwaished District, Jordan October 12, 2023 on this handout picture. Planet Labs PBC/Handout by way of REUTERS
By Raneen Sawafta and Fadi Shana and Nidal al-Mughrabi
WEST BANK/GAZA/DOHA (Reuters) -Hamas mentioned on Tuesday it will research a brand new ceasefire proposal within the struggle with Israel in Gaza, hours after Israeli commandos killed three Palestinian militants in a raid on a hospital within the occupied West Financial institution.
The raid underscored the danger of the Gaza struggle spreading to different fronts, whereas Israeli forces fought new battles with Hamas fighters within the Palestinian enclave.
Clashes in northern Gaza compelled extra Palestinian residents to flee to safer areas, and southern components of the coastal enclave have been hit by Israeli air strikes.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh mentioned the group had obtained a ceasefire proposal put ahead after talks in Paris. He mentioned he would research the plan and go to Cairo for discussions on it.
The precedence for the Palestinian militant group was to finish the Israeli offensive and a full pull-out of Israeli forces from Gaza, he mentioned.
Haniyeh gave no particulars of the ceasefire proposal however it adopted talks in Paris involving CIA Director William Burns, Qatar’s prime minister, the chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and the pinnacle of Egyptian intelligence.
Whereas the West Financial institution – an space that Palestinians envisage as a part of a hoped-for impartial state – had seen elevated violence even earlier than the outbreak of the Gaza struggle in October, the hospital raid may gas a extra intense section of unrest.
CCTV footage appeared to indicate a couple of dozen troops, together with three in ladies’s garb and two dressed as Palestinian medical workers, pacing by way of a hall in Ibn Sina (BitStamp:) hospital within the metropolis of Jenin with rifles.
Hamas mentioned one of many useless was a member of the militant Islamist group. The allied faction Islamic Jihad mentioned the opposite two killed have been brothers who belonged to it. Ibn Sina mentioned one of many brothers had been receiving therapy for an harm that paralysed his legs.
The Israeli navy mentioned a type of killed had a pistol, and that the incident confirmed militants have been utilizing civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and “human shields”. Hamas has beforehand denied such allegations.
Palestinian sources mentioned the three weren’t engaged in any combating. They mentioned one, Basel Al-Ghazzawi, was wheelchair-bound after being wounded in his again this month, and was within the hospital for therapy. His brother Mohammad was staying there to assist him, and the third man was a pal, the sources mentioned.
The Israeli undercover squad broke into the hospital, headed to the third flooring and killed them utilizing silenced pistols, hospital sources mentioned.
Palestinian Well being Minister Mai Alkaila known as the incident a struggle crime and urged the United Nations and worldwide rights teams to place an finish to such actions. Israel has beforehand denied committing struggle crimes.
The Israeli navy recognized one of many slain males as Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, from Jenin, who it mentioned had contacts with Hamas headquarters overseas and was planning an assault impressed by the Hamas rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
GAZA DEATH TOLL RISES
Israel unleashed its assault on Gaza in response to that assault by which 1,200 Israelis have been killed and 253 taken hostage. Greater than 100 hostages stay captive in Gaza.
Since then, 26,751 Palestinians have been killed and 65,636 wounded by Israeli actions in Gaza, the Gaza well being ministry mentioned. Some 114 Palestinians have been killed and 249 injured up to now 24 hours, it mentioned.
Israel says its forces have killed round 9,000 Palestinian combatants in Gaza, and that 221 of its troopers have been killed within the combating.
The struggle has created a humanitarian disaster, with huge areas of Gaza flattened, a whole lot of 1000’s of individuals left destitute, and provides of meals, water and medicines virtually exhausted.
The World Well being Group mentioned the inhabitants of Gaza was on the verge of famine.
“It is getting worse by the day,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier instructed a briefing in Geneva.
She mentioned one convoy tried to succeed in the Nasser Hospital on Tuesday morning however folks helped themselves to provides earlier than they could possibly be distributed.
TANKS IN ACTION
Israel mounted a brand new push in northern Gaza after earlier reporting successes in opposition to Palestinian militants there. The militants’ presence within the space suggests Israel’s marketing campaign to eradicate Hamas will not be going to plan.
Hamas seems to have been capable of regroup in Gaza Metropolis because the struggle drags on and worldwide concern over the plight of civilians mounts.
A lot of Tuesday’s motion in Gaza was targeted on the Seashore refugee camp and close to the Al Shifa hospital, residents mentioned. Israeli tanks broke into one shelter web site and troopers rounded up dozens of males.
Residents and well being officers additionally mentioned an Israeli tank opened hearth in opposition to dozens of Palestinians close to Al-Kuwaiti Sq. on the southern fringe of Gaza Metropolis the place support vans unload their shipments, killing two folks and wounding others.
The combating induced extra folks to flee inside Gaza Metropolis and to the south in the direction of Deir Al-Balah within the centre. Heavy bombing additionally hit western and southern suburbs of Gaza.
Within the south, Israeli forces stored up stress in Khan Younis, sustaining their encirclement of the town’s two major hospitals.
Palestinian well being officers mentioned at the least 10 Palestinians have been killed in two separate Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis and in Deir Al-Balah.
The Israeli navy mentioned in a abstract of in a single day operations that motion continued within the western a part of Khan Younis, the place militants have been killed and lots of arms seized. In northern and central Gaza, troopers killed “quite a few” militants, together with a rocket-propelled grenade squad.