CAIRO: Israeli forces resumed operations near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Monday amid international pressure to strike a deal to end fighting in Gaza and block a slide into a wider regional conflict with Iran and its proxies.
Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes on several areas of Khan Younis on Monday killed at least 16 people and wounded several others. Meanwhile, more families and displaced people streamed out of areas threatened by 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 brokered by Egypt and Qatar due to take place on Thursday, saying it had seen no sign of movement from the Israeli side.
The group said in a statement on Sunday that mediators must force Israel to accept a ceasefire proposal based on US President Joe Biden's ideas, which Hamas accepted, “rather than continuing with further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for occupation aggression.” .”
Two sources close to Hamas said the group believed the new call for talks was coordinated with Israel in advance to deter Iranian and Hezbollah responses to the assassination of the group's chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah's top leader in Lebanon.
“You can say it's a mild rejection. If Hamas receives a workable plan, an Israeli positive response to the proposal it has accepted, things may change, but so far Hamas believes Netanyahu is not serious about reaching an agreement,” said one Palestinian official close to the mediation effort.
Hamas's reaction to the talks came as preparations for a larger confrontation grew, with Washington ordering a cruise 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 is preparing a large-scale military attack on Israel, Barack Ravid, a typically well-sourced Axios News reporter, reported on Twitter.
Israel has been preparing for a major offensive since last month, when a rocket attack killed 12 young people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel responded by killing a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
The day after this operation, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran, prompting Iran to vow retaliation against Israel.
The potential escalation highlighted how far the Middle East has been thrown into turmoil by the Gaza war, now in its 11th month.
The Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip killed about 1,200 people, more than 250 of whom were captured in Gaza, according to Israeli records, in one of the deadliest strikes against Israel in its history.
In response, Israeli forces razed Gaza, displacing most of the population and killing around 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in a war that has caused horror around the world.
On Saturday, dozens of people were killed in Israeli attacks on a school building in Gaza City, which the army said targeted fighters from the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Gazan medics say most of the casualties were civilians, but Israel says at least a third are fighters. Israel claims to have lost 329 soldiers in Gaza.
