Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza

Israeli forces yesterday advanced further into the Shejaia neighbourhood of northern Gaza and also pushed deeper into western and central Rafah in the south, killing at least six Palestinians and destroying several homes, residents said.

Israeli tanks, which moved back into Shejaia four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, the residents said.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his position that there was no substitute for achieving victory in the offensive against Hamas.

“We are committed to fighting until we achieve all of our objectives: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages, ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel and returning our residents securely to their homes in the south and the north,” he said.

The Israeli military said forces operating in Shejaia had over the past day killed several Palestinian gunmen, located weapons, and struck military infrastructure. On Saturday it announced the death of two Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza.

The armed wing of Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad reported fierce fighting in both Shejaia and Rafah, saying their fighters had fired anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs against Israeli forces operating there.

More than eight months into Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza, Hamas fighters continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces, operating in areas that the Israeli army said it had gained control over months ago.

Arab mediators’ efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to secure a ceasefire. Hamas says any deal must end the offensive and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reports Reuters.

In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israeli tanks pushed deeper into several districts in the east, west and centre of the city, and medics said six people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Shaboura, in the heart of the city.

The six bodies from the Zurub family were transferred to Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis. Yesterday, dozens of relatives paid their respects before the bodies, which were wrapped in white shrouds, and then carried them in their arms to prepared graves.

Residents said the Israeli army had torched the Al-Awda mosque in the centre of Rafah, one of the city’s best-known.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 37,877 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza yesterday. It reported at least 43 deaths over the previous 24 hours.

The Israeli military said yesterday its forces continued “targeted, intelligence-based” operations in Rafah, killing several gunmen in different encounters and dismantling tunnels.

A senior Palestinian Hamas official said Saturday in Beirut that negotiations for an agreement with Israel on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal had not made any progress, reports AFP.

According to US news site Axios, “three sources with direct knowledge” said Washington had presented a “new language for parts of” the proposed deal.

On Saturday, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Lebanon, confirmed that the Islamist movement had received the latest proposal on June 24, but that it included “nothing new”.