The maze of tunnels was initially used to bypass Israel’s devastating blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas came to power in 2007, allowing the smuggling of people, goods and weaponry in and out of Egypt.
Truce talks
In Khan Younis, the Israeli army said its troops fighting in city blocks and tunnels had “eliminated terrorists during combat and located large quantities of weapons”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society accused Israel of “firing live ammunition and smoke grenades” at displaced people and its staff from tanks at Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis. The army denied the allegation.
In the latest efforts to broker a new truce, a meeting in Paris on Jan 29 between top US, Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials resulted in a proposed framework.
Hamas said on Jan 30 it had received the proposal, saying on its Telegram account that it was “in the process of examining it and delivering its response”.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose government helped broker a previous truce in November, voiced hope an initial deal might lead to a permanent ceasefire.
Sheikh Mohammed said the current plan included a phased truce that would see women and children hostages released first, with more aid also entering Gaza.
The United States expressed hope for a deal, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying “very important, productive work has been done”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office earlier also called the talks “constructive”, ruled out releasing “thousands” of Palestinian prisoners as part of any deal to halt fighting in Gaza.
“I would like to make it clear… We will not withdraw the IDF from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists. None of this will happen,” he said on Jan 30.
Undercover hospital raid
Violence has also surged in the West Bank since the start of the war.
On Jan 31, Israeli undercover troops raided a hospital in Jenin, in the north of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, killing three men the army said were members of a “terrorist cell”.
Some of the Israeli agents were dressed as medical staff and carried a wheelchair and baby carrier as props, according to officials and hospital CCTV footage released by the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.
Hamas said one of the three killed, Muhammad Jalamneh, was a commander in its armed wing.
The Israeli army charged that Jalamneh, allegedly “inspired” by the Oct 7 attack, had “planned to carry out a terror attack in the immediate future and used the hospital as a hiding place”.
The Palestinian health ministry said hospitals enjoy special protection under international law and urged the United Nations to help end Israel’s “daily string of crimes… against our people and health centres”.
In southern Gaza, Palestinians buried dozens of bodies in a mass grave after officials said Israel returned remains it had exhumed from the territory.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request to comment, although it has previously made remarks about exhuming bodies from Gaza graves in search of Israeli hostages.
UN-Israel row
Fears have grown that the Middle East could face a wider conflict, after months of violence involving Iran-backed allies of Hamas in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, who have also targeted US forces.
The war has left much of Gaza in ruins and sparked a spiralling humanitarian crisis for its 2.4 million people, many of whom face the threats of hunger and disease.
Israel has alleged that several staff of the main UN aid agency for Palestinians took part in the Oct 7 attack, leading key donor countries including the United States and Germany to suspend funding.
The UN’s coordinator for Gaza aid, Mr Sigrid Kaag, said on Jan 30 that no other agency can “replace or substitute” UNRWA, which has thousands of employees.
Israel, which has vowed to stop the agency’s work in Gaza, later accused UNRWA of being a “front for Hamas”.
“It has been fundamentally compromised in three main ways: hiring terrorists on a massive scale, letting its infrastructure be used for Hamas military activity and relying on Hamas for aid distribution,” government spokesman Eylon Levy said. AFP
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