Israel carries out airstrikes in the south and north of the Gaza Strip

2024-01-31 17:18:48, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israeli forces on Wednesday carried out airstrikes in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, while international efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas intensified.

Gaza City was also targeted by Israel's attacks, where the Israeli army said it killed 15 militants during a ground operation.

In Khanis Younis, the largest city in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses reported heavy fighting, including a number of airstrikes.

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said the death toll from the Israeli counteroffensive had reached 26,900, including civilians and militants.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is expected to travel to Egypt for discussions on a proposed ceasefire, which would include an end to fighting by both sides in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages being held by Hamas.

Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday that Hamas was analyzing the cease-fire proposal and reiterated the militant group's demand for a permanent cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

"The priority is the cessation of unjust aggression and the complete withdrawal of the occupying forces," the Hamas leader said.

He also said Hamas would seek help rebuilding Gaza, much of which has been destroyed during the Israeli counteroffensive that followed Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. Hamas is also demanding the lifting of Israel's several-year economic blockade of the Gaza Strip and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the complete withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip would not take place before the realization of Israel's objectives. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas so that the organization is unable to carry out attacks against Israel in the future.

The framework for a possible agreement is the result of talks in Paris, attended by officials from the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt.

More than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire in November last year in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. It is suspected that Hamas is holding about 100 more hostages.

Attack on the West Bank

The UN human rights office called for an immediate end to "unlawful killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank" after Israeli forces killed three people in a Jenin hospital, which Israel said were planning militants. an attack on Israel.

In the UN statement, Israel's operation in the Jenin hospital is considered "a plan of executions without trial".

The UN human rights office noted an increase in killings of Palestinians in the West Bank since the October 7 attack. About 370 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank during this period, most of them by Israeli forces.

Michael Provence, a professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of California, San Diego, told VOA that the attack was "crude and an escalation, but not unprecedented" for Israel.

Professor Provence said the attack also made it difficult to negotiate a ceasefire.

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals and tunnels under health centers to hide weapons and using civilians as human shields.

Aid to the Palestinians

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met on Tuesday with representatives of 35 countries and those of the European Union after several major countries suspended financial aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The decision to suspend aid followed Israel's accusations that 12 staff members of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

More than 12 countries, including the largest donor, the United States, announced the suspension of financial support for UNRWA while investigations into the matter continue. UNRWA said that due to the suspension of these funds, the agency will not have access to 444 million dollars./ VOA