Israeli troops yesterday launched a new assault into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, as American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal.
IDF attacked some 30 sites after issuing new evacuation orders for exhausted residents who have already been displaced multiple times
Thousands of Palestinians have begun fleeing areas in Khan Younis since Thursday, carrying essentials like small gas cylinders, mattresses, tents, backpacks and blankets.
Officials from Israel and the United States have said they believe Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ newly named top leader, could be hiding in tunnels under Khan Younis.
The military said yesterday its warplanes struck 30 Hamas targets in the city, including fighters and weapons storage sites. It said troops were searching for Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure while engaging in combat “above and below ground.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed later on Thursday that it would send negotiators to talks that mediators have called for on August 15, to be held in either Qatar’s capital of Doha or Egypt’s capital of Cairo.
There was no immediate response from Hamas, which announced Tuesday that Sinwar, the group’s leader in Gaza, would replace Haniyeh as the group’s top leader.
More than 39,700 people have been killed and 91,722 wounded in Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The toll includes 22 deaths in the past 48 hours, according to the Gaza health ministry figures.
On the ground in Gaza, the Hamas-controlled civil defence agency said Israeli strikes hit Al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City, killing more than 18 people.
Senior agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said 60 people were wounded and more than 40 still missing, reports AFP.
“This is a clear targeting of schools and safe civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Israeli military said the schools housed Hamas command centres. At least 13 people were killed elsewhere in Gaza, rescuers and medics reported.
Meanwhile, Iran’s acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, told AFP that Israel had committed “a strategic mistake” by killing Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel seeks “to expand tension, war and conflict to other countries”, but has neither “the capacity nor the strength” to fight Iran, Bagheri said.
