CAIRO: Israeli forces continued their operations near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on Monday amid international pressure for 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 in several areas of Khan Younis on Monday killed at least 16 people and injured several others. Meanwhile, more families and displaced people poured out of areas threatened by new evacuation orders urging people to clear the area.
As fighting continued in several areas of the Gaza Strip, Hamas reacted skeptically to the latest round of Egyptian-Qatari-mediated talks that took place on Thursday, saying it has seen no signs 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 ideas from US President Joe Biden, which Hamas had accepted, “instead of continuing rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation's aggression .”
Two sources close to Hamas said the group was confident the new call for talks had been coordinated in advance with Israel to deter reactions from Iran and Hezbollah to the killing of the group's chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a top Hezbollah leader in Lebanon.
– You could say it is a mild rejection. Should Hamas get a workable plan, an Israeli positive response to the proposal that they had accepted, things could change, but so far Hamas believes that Netanyahu is not serious about reaching an agreement,” said a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts.
Hamas's reaction to the talks came as preparations for a larger confrontation grew, with Washington ordering a guided 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 was preparing for a large-scale military attack on Israel, Barack Ravid, a normally well-behaved reporter for Axios News, reported on Twitter.
Israel has been bracing for a major attack since last month when a missile strike killed 12 youths in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel responded by killing a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
A day after that operation, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's political leader, was assassinated in Tehran, prompting Iranian vows of revenge against Israel.
The potential escalation underscored how far the Middle East has been thrown into chaos by the war in Gaza, now in its eleventh month.
The Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip killed around 1,200 people, with over 250 taken captive in Gaza, according to Israeli data, in one of the most devastating blows against Israel in its history.
In response, Israeli forces have flattened Gaza, displacing most of the population and killing about 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry, in a war that has caused horror around the world.
Scores of people were killed on Saturday in Israeli attacks on a school building in Gaza City that the military said targeted fighters from the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Gaza health authorities say most of the deaths have been civilians but Israel says at least a third are fighters. Israel says it has lost 329 soldiers in Gaza.
