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©(Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
The war between Israel and Hamas entered its 119th day on Sunday, February 02. While fighting still rages in Khan Younes after four months of war that have left Gaza "uninhabitable," the hope for a truce is rearing its head.
Fighting continued in Gaza on Friday with numerous reported casualties overnight, following an announcement from the Qatari mediator that Hamas had expressed "initial" support for a hostage-prisoner exchange deal. The proposed agreement could potentially lead to a temporary cessation of hostilities between Hamas and Israel.
The health ministry in Gaza reported 112 casualties in the past 24 hours. The Hamas press office also informed about Israeli air and artillery bombardment around Khan Younes, the main city in southern Gaza and a focal point of recent fighting.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli snipers were firing at one of its buildings, where thousands of displaced people were sheltering.
"Due to ongoing gunfire, our crews are currently unable to transport several wounded individuals to Al-Amal Hospital," it said. There was no immediate response from the Israeli military.
Nearly four months of fighting have left Gaza "uninhabitable," the United Nations says, while an Israeli siege has resulted in dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines.
Imagery analysis released Friday by the UN's satellite center UNITAR based on footage collected on January 6 and 7 shows that "approximately 30 percent" of Gaza's structures have been affected by the war.
"The new findings provide an estimated figure of 93,800 housing units damaged in the Gaza Strip," UNITAR said.
Mother nature also piled havoc on Gaza, with winter storms Friday bringing torrential rain and more misery for hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians sheltering in bombed out buildings and makeshift camps.
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said there were hopes of "good news" about a fresh pause to the fighting "in the next couple of weeks," after a truce proposal agreed with Israeli negotiators was presented to Hamas.
The plan, thrashed out with Israeli negotiators through the efforts of Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators in Paris earlier this week, received a "positive" initial response from Hamas, according to Ansari.
"That proposal has been approved by the Israeli side and now we have an initial positive confirmation from the Hamas side," he said.
But a source close to Hamas told AFP: "There is no agreement on the framework of the agreement yet – the factions have important observations – and the Qatari statement is rushed and not true."
A Hamas source said the group had been presented with a three-stage plan, which would start with an initial six-week halt to the fighting that would see more aid deliveries into Gaza.
The pause would also see the release of "women, children and sick men over 60" among the Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the source said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops in Khan Younes that the city's Hamas brigade had been "dismantled" and the "same will happen in Rafah," the border town where displaced civilians have sought refuge.
The government's tough line has faced mounting opposition inside Israel, with protesters gathering again in Tel Aviv on Thursday night, carrying placards featuring hostages' faces and slogans such as "No more bloodshed."
"We need them to bring the hostages back, right now. The only way is through a deal," said activist Moran Zer Katzenstein.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi issued a stern warning Friday against any possible attack by the United States in retaliation for a strike that killed three American troops in Jordan.
"We have said many times that we will not be the initiator of any war, but if a country, a cruel force wants to bully, the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond firmly," Raisi said during a visit to a Gulf naval base operated by the Revolutionary Guards.
The death of the American soldiers in a drone strike at a base in Jordan on Sunday marked the first US military losses to hostile fire in the region since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.
US President Joe Biden has blamed "radical Iran-backed militant groups" for the attack.
The White House warned that "multiple actions" could be taken in retaliation for the attack.
In a rare move against Israel, the United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on four Israeli settlers over the violence, blocking their assets in the US and forbidding Americans from financial transactions with them.
Violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank, where more than 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers since October 7.
Three pro-Iran fighters were killed in Israeli strikes south of Damascus Friday, a war monitor said, with Iranian media reporting an adviser from the Revolutionary Guards was among the dead.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “three members of pro-Iran groups, including an Iranian and an Iraqi” were killed in “Israeli air strikes.”
The targets included a site operated by Hezbollah on a road leading to the Sayyida Zeinab district and a site on the road to Damascus airport that had recently been vacated by pro-Iran groups, the Britain-based war monitor said.
With AFP
Fighting continued in Gaza on Friday with numerous reported casualties overnight, following an announcement from the Qatari mediator that Hamas had expressed "initial" support for a hostage-prisoner exchange deal. The proposed agreement could potentially lead to a temporary cessation of hostilities between Hamas and Israel.
The health ministry in Gaza reported 112 casualties in the past 24 hours. The Hamas press office also informed about Israeli air and artillery bombardment around Khan Younes, the main city in southern Gaza and a focal point of recent fighting.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli snipers were firing at one of its buildings, where thousands of displaced people were sheltering.
"Due to ongoing gunfire, our crews are currently unable to transport several wounded individuals to Al-Amal Hospital," it said. There was no immediate response from the Israeli military.
Nearly four months of fighting have left Gaza "uninhabitable," the United Nations says, while an Israeli siege has resulted in dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines.
Imagery analysis released Friday by the UN's satellite center UNITAR based on footage collected on January 6 and 7 shows that "approximately 30 percent" of Gaza's structures have been affected by the war.
"The new findings provide an estimated figure of 93,800 housing units damaged in the Gaza Strip," UNITAR said.
Mother nature also piled havoc on Gaza, with winter storms Friday bringing torrential rain and more misery for hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians sheltering in bombed out buildings and makeshift camps.
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said there were hopes of "good news" about a fresh pause to the fighting "in the next couple of weeks," after a truce proposal agreed with Israeli negotiators was presented to Hamas.
Three-stage truce plan
The plan, thrashed out with Israeli negotiators through the efforts of Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators in Paris earlier this week, received a "positive" initial response from Hamas, according to Ansari.
"That proposal has been approved by the Israeli side and now we have an initial positive confirmation from the Hamas side," he said.
But a source close to Hamas told AFP: "There is no agreement on the framework of the agreement yet – the factions have important observations – and the Qatari statement is rushed and not true."
A Hamas source said the group had been presented with a three-stage plan, which would start with an initial six-week halt to the fighting that would see more aid deliveries into Gaza.
The pause would also see the release of "women, children and sick men over 60" among the Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the source said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops in Khan Younes that the city's Hamas brigade had been "dismantled" and the "same will happen in Rafah," the border town where displaced civilians have sought refuge.
The government's tough line has faced mounting opposition inside Israel, with protesters gathering again in Tel Aviv on Thursday night, carrying placards featuring hostages' faces and slogans such as "No more bloodshed."
"We need them to bring the hostages back, right now. The only way is through a deal," said activist Moran Zer Katzenstein.
Iran will 'respond firmly' to attack
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi issued a stern warning Friday against any possible attack by the United States in retaliation for a strike that killed three American troops in Jordan.
"We have said many times that we will not be the initiator of any war, but if a country, a cruel force wants to bully, the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond firmly," Raisi said during a visit to a Gulf naval base operated by the Revolutionary Guards.
The death of the American soldiers in a drone strike at a base in Jordan on Sunday marked the first US military losses to hostile fire in the region since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.
US President Joe Biden has blamed "radical Iran-backed militant groups" for the attack.
The White House warned that "multiple actions" could be taken in retaliation for the attack.
Settler sanctions
In a rare move against Israel, the United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on four Israeli settlers over the violence, blocking their assets in the US and forbidding Americans from financial transactions with them.
Violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank, where more than 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers since October 7.
Israeli strike in Syria
Three pro-Iran fighters were killed in Israeli strikes south of Damascus Friday, a war monitor said, with Iranian media reporting an adviser from the Revolutionary Guards was among the dead.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “three members of pro-Iran groups, including an Iranian and an Iraqi” were killed in “Israeli air strikes.”
The targets included a site operated by Hezbollah on a road leading to the Sayyida Zeinab district and a site on the road to Damascus airport that had recently been vacated by pro-Iran groups, the Britain-based war monitor said.
With AFP
This Is Beirut
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