WORLD NEWS: 60 BODIES FOUND AFTER ISRAELI OPERATION IN GAZA CITY

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Following the Israeli military’s announcement that its operation in Gaza City was coming to an end, authorities in the Hamas-run enclave reported on Thursday that they had discovered about 60 bodies beneath the debris in a neighborhood.

Fighting, bombing, and displacement increased in Shujaiya’s eastern district during negotiations for a truce and hostage release agreement in mediator Qatar.

US President Joe Biden called for an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict while informing reporters that his government was “making progress” toward a ceasefire accord.

His remarks followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence, which runs counter to Hamas’s assertion that Israel must evacuate all of Gaza during a ceasefire, that Israel maintain control of strategically important areas along the border with Egypt.

Gazaā€™s civil defence agency said around 60 bodies had been found under the rubble in Shujaiya, after some of Gaza Cityā€™s heaviest combat in months.

Hamas said Israelā€™s operation there had left ā€œmore than 300 residential units and more than 100 business destroyedā€.

Mohammed Nairi, a Shujaiya resident, said he and others returning to the neighbourhood had seen ā€œimmense destruction that defies description. All the houses were demolished.ā€

Israelā€™s military said on Wednesday it had completed its mission in Shujaiya after two weeks, but bombardments and fighting continued to shake Gaza City.

Witnesses said tanks and troops had moved on to other parts of the city.

An AFP correspondent reported air strikes on the Sabra neighbourhood while militants engaged in heavy clashesĀ with Israeli forces in Tel al-Hawa.

Hamas reported 45 air strikes in the Gaza City area, as well as in Gazaā€™s southernmost city of Rafah, where Netanyahu had said the intense phase of the war was nearing its conclusion.

Netanyahuā€™s office confirmed that its negotiating team, led by Mossad intelligence chief David Barnea, had returned to Israel followingĀ talks with mediators in Doha on Thursday.

Speaking after the teamā€™s return, Netanyahu said Israel needed control of the Palestinian side of Gazaā€™s border with Egypt to stop weapons reaching Hamas.

He added that Israel must also be allowed to keep on fighting until its war aims of destroying Hamas and bringing home all hostages are achieved.

In Washington, Biden acknowledged ā€œdifficult, complex issuesā€ remain between Israel and Hamas, but that progress was being made in reaching a ceasefire deal.

ā€œThereā€™s a lot of things in retrospect I wish I had been able to convince the Israelis to do, but the bottom line is we have a chance now. Itā€™s time to end this war,ā€ he said after a NATO summit.

The Washington Post had reported on Wednesday that both Israel and Hamas had ā€œsignalled their acceptance of an ā€˜interim governanceā€™ planā€ in which neither would rule the territory and a US-trained force of Palestinian Authority supporters would provide security.

The Pentagon has also announced it will soon permanently end its problem-plagued effort to deliver aid to Gaza by sea from Cyprus using a temporary pier that had been repeatedly damaged by weather conditions.

The UNā€™s health agency meanwhile said that only five trucks carrying medical supplies were allowed into Gaza last week.

ā€œMore than 34 of our trucks are waiting at the Al Arish crossing, and 850 pallets of medical supplies are awaiting collection. A further 40 trucks are waiting at Ismailiya in Egypt,ā€ WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday on social media platform X.

Hamasā€™s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,345 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from Gazaā€™s health ministry.

The Israeli army dropped leaflets on Wednesday warning ā€œeveryone in Gaza Cityā€ that it would ā€œremain a dangerous combat zoneā€.

The leaflets urged residents to flee, and set out designated escape routes from the area where the UN humanitarian office said up to 350,000 people had been sheltering.

The UN said the latest evacuations ā€œwill only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families, many of whom have been displaced many timesā€, and who face ā€œcritical levels of needā€.

Hamas official Hossam Badran told AFP that Israel was ā€œhoping that the resistance will relinquish its legitimate demandsā€ in truce negotiations.

But ā€œthe continuation of massacres compels us to adhere to our demandsā€, he said.

Israelā€™s military said operations were also continuing in the Rafah area where ā€œdozensā€ of militants were killed over the past day.

The military said it responded with air and ground strikes after five rockets were fired from the area towards Israel on Thursday.

The military separately acknowledged Thursday it had ā€œfailedā€ to protect Kibbutz Beeri, where more than 100 people died during Hamasā€™s October 7 attacks.

A summary of the inquiry, made public after being presented to kibbutz residents, said there had been a ā€œlack of coordinationā€ in the military response.

 

AFP

 

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