A framework to halt the Gaza fighting and for hostage releases is to be relayed to Hamas, mediator Qatar said on Monday, as a bitter row flared around the UN aid agency for Palestinians.
Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip killed 215 more people within 24 hours, including 20 members of one family, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
Ground forces backed by tanks have focused on the main southern city of Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Sinwar’s office, military sites and “a significant rocket manufacturing facility” were raided by troops, the army said.
Since the war began, the Israeli military “eliminated over 2,000 terrorists above and below ground” in the Khan Yunis area, spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Monday, without offering evidence.
With Gazans facing dire humanitarian conditions after nearly four months of war, 20 international aid organizations said they were “outraged” at the suspension of funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
At least 12 nations — including top donors the US and Germany — have halted funds over Israeli claims that some UNRWA staff were involved in Hamas’ attack that sparked the fighting on Oct. 7 last year.
A UNRWA source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, said that it would be “a major disaster” if donors insist on stopping their support.
In the latest efforts to broker a new truce, CIA Director William Burns met top Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Paris on Sunday.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who attended the talks, said “good progress” had been made and the parties were “hoping to relay this proposal to Hamas and to get them to a place where they engage positively and constructively in the process.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed hope for the deal.
“Very important, productive work has been done and there is some real hope going forward,” Blinken told reporters after the Paris talks.
Sheikh Mohammed confirmed that the framework — which he said might lead to a permanent ceasefire — includes a phased truce that would see women and children hostages released first, with aid also entering besieged Gaza.
A senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nunu, said it wanted a “complete and comprehensive ceasefire, not a temporary truce,” although it was not immediately clear if Hamas officials had received the text of the Qatari proposal.
Once the fighting stopped, al-Nunu said, “the rest of the details can be discussed,” including hostage releases.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has called the Paris talks “constructive,” but pointed to “significant gaps which the parties will continue to discuss.”
The EU and other donors have urged an investigation into the allegations against UNRWA staff.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has pleaded for continued financial support to meet “dire needs,” was to meet donors yesterday, his office said.
Guterres has already spoken with US Ambassasor to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, as well as King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz canceled a meeting with UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini and said on social media: “Supporters of terrorism are not welcome here.”
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where 1.5 million displaced people have taken refuge, some said that the UN support was a lifeline.
“We live on aid from UNRWA,” said Sabah Musabih, 50. “If it stopped, we would die of hunger.”
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