Mediators work for cease-fire as Israeli strikes kill 119 Palestinians

Palestinian Territories – AFP

Israel killed 119 Palestinians in Gaza in the latest night of strikes, the health ministry in the enclave said on Thursday.

The Qatar-based leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh was expected in Cairo on Thursday or Friday for talks on a proposed truce.

The group was reviewing a proposal for a six-week pause in its war with Israel, a Hamas source told AFP, after mediators gathered in Paris.

In Gaza, there was no let-up in fighting or aerial bombardment by Israel, with the current focus in Khan Younis, where Israel says Hamas leaders are hiding.

Overnight, witnesses said several Israeli air strikes hit the city, while aid and health workers have for days reported heavy fighting, particularly around two hospitals.

“There is a massacre taking place right now,” said Leo Cans of international aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Israel accuses Hamas of operating from tunnels under hospitals in Gaza and of using medical facilities as command centres, a charge denied by the group.

Due to constraints on the delivery of humanitarian aid, the population is “starving to death”, the World Health Organization’s emergencies director Michael Ryan said on Wednesday.

“The civilians of Gaza are not parties to this conflict and they should be protected, as should be their health facilities,” he added.

In its latest update, the UN reported heavy bombardment across the Gaza Strip, particularly in Khan Younis, while it said 184,000 more Palestinians from the city had registered to receive humanitarian assistance after fleeing their homes in recent days.

– Three-stage plan –

As Qatari and Egyptian-led mediation efforts intensified, Haniyeh was due in Cairo to discuss a truce proposal thrashed out in Paris last weekend with CIA chief William Burns.

A Hamas source told AFP the three-stage plan would start with an initial six-week halt to the fighting that would see more aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip.

Only “women, children and sick men over 60” held in Gaza would be freed during that stage in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, the source said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

There would also be “negotiations around the withdrawal of Israeli forces”, with possible additional phases involving more prisoner exchanges, said the source, adding that Gaza’s rebuilding was also among issues addressed by the deal.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development said tens of billions of dollars would be required to rebuild Gaza, which “currently is uninhabitable” as half its structures are damaged or destroyed.