SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell
Israel will ease its blockade and let limited amounts of food into Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, after the military announced it had begun “extensive ground operations” in the northern and southern parts of the enclave.
Facing mounting pressure over an aid blockade it imposed in March and the risk of famine, Israel has stepped up its campaign in Gaza, where Palestinian health officials said hundreds have been killed in attacks in the past week, of which 130 occurred overnight.
Smoke rises following an Israeli army bombardment in the Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel, on Sunday.Credit: AP
“At the recommendation of the IDF [Israel Defence Forces], and out of the operational need to enable the expansion of intense fighting to defeat Hamas, Israel will allow a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said early on Monday (AEST).
Eri Kaneko, a spokesperson for UN aid chief Tom Fletcher, confirmed the agency had been approached by Israeli authorities to “resume limited aid delivery”, adding that discussions were ongoing about the logistics “given the conditions on the ground”.
Israel made its announcement after sources on both sides said there had been no progress in a new round of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Qatar.
Netanyahu said the talks included discussions on a truce, a hostage deal and a proposal to end the war in return for the exile of Hamas militants and the demilitarisation of the enclave – terms Hamas has previously rejected.
Hanan Al-Aloul on Sunday mourns over the body of a relative killed when an Israeli army strike hit their home in Gaza City.Credit: AP
The Israeli military suggested in a later statement that it could still scale down operations to help reach a deal in Doha. Military chief Eyal Zamir told troops in Gaza that the army would provide the country’s leaders with the flexibility they need to reach a hostage deal, the statement said.
Israel’s military said it had conducted a preliminary wave of strikes on more than 670 Hamas targets in Gaza over the past week to support “Gideon’s Chariots”, its new ground operation aimed at achieving “operational control” in parts of the enclave. It said it killed dozens of Hamas fighters.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that in the week to Sunday alone, at least 464 Palestinians were killed.
“Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by [overnight] Israeli bombardment,” Gaza health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said.
The Israeli campaign has devastated Gaza, pushing nearly all of its 2 million residents from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, Gaza health authorities say.
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis late last week.Credit: AP
Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing its hostages, and has approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid. International experts have warned of looming famine.
Asked about the Qatar talks, a Hamas official said: “Israel’s position remains unchanged, they want to release the prisoners [hostages] without a commitment to end the war.”
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Sunday.Credit: AP
Hamas was still proposing to release all of its Israeli hostages in return for an end to the war, the pull-out of Israeli troops, an end to a blockade on aid for Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, the Hamas official said.
A senior Israeli official said there had been no progress in the talks so far. Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the elimination of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas, which attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 251 hostages.
In Israel, Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said Netanyahu was refusing to end the war in exchange for the hostages because of political reasons. “The Israeli government still insists on only partial deals. They are deliberately tormenting us. Bring our children back already! All 58 of them,” she said in a social media post.
One of Israel’s overnight strikes hit a tent encampment housing displaced families in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing women and children, wounding dozens and setting tents ablaze, medics said. Later on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry said the Indonesian Hospital, one of the largest partially functioning medical facilities in northern Gaza, had ceased work because of Israeli fire.
Israel’s military said its troops were targeting “terrorist infrastructure sites” in northern Gaza, including in the area adjacent to the Indonesian hospital.
Israeli soldiers move tanks near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, on SundayCredit: AP
The Washington Post reported that tanks and armoured vehicles had moved into major cities in Gaza on Friday.
Hamas neither confirmed nor denied reports on Sunday in Arab and Israeli media that its leader, Mohammed Sinwar, was killed in last week’s airstrikes on a tunnel below another hospital further south in Gaza.
Gaza’s healthcare system is barely operational and the blockade on aid has compounded its difficulties. Israel blames Hamas for stealing aid, which Hamas denies. “Hospitals are overwhelmed, with a growing number of casualties; many are children,” said Al-Deqran, the health ministry spokesperson.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 75 per cent of its ambulances could not run because of fuel shortages. It warned that within 72 hours, all vehicles may stop.
Reuters
