RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Talks on a possible ceasefire agreement in Gaza “have not progressed as expected in recent days after good progress in recent weeks,” key mediator Qatar said Saturday, as Israel's prime minister accused the militants Hamas group has not changed its “delusional” demands.
During the Munich Security Conference, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani pointed out difficulties in the “humanitarian part” of the negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure to bring home the remaining hostages from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, said he sent a delegation to Cairo for ceasefire talks earlier this week at the request of U.S. President Joe Biden, didn't do this but I see the point in sending them again.
Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinians held by Israel.
Netanyahu also pushed back against international concerns about a planned Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, a city on the southern Gaza Strip's border with Egypt. He said “complete victory” against Hamas required the offensive once people living there were evacuated to safer areas. Where they will go in the largely destroyed Gaza Strip is unclear.
New airstrikes in central Gaza on Saturday killed more than 40 people, including children, and wounded at least 50, according to Associated Press journalists and hospital officials. The Israeli military said it carried out attacks against Hamas there.
Health officials said five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house outside Khan Younis in the south, and another five people, including three children, were killed in an airstrike on a building north of Rafah. Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital, said more bodies were being pulled from the rubble.
The Israeli air and ground offensive was triggered by the attack on October 7th, in which around 1,200 people in Israel were killed and 250 others were taken hostage.
The Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday raised the total death toll in Gaza to 28,858 and said the bodies of 83 people killed in Israeli bombings had been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours. The count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says two-thirds of those killed are women and children.
The war has also caused widespread destruction, displaced about 80% of Gaza's population and sparked a humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
EGYPT CONCERNS ABOUT SPILLOVERS
More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are crammed into Rafah, which represents Israel's last significant stronghold for Hamas militants.
Biden has urged Israel not to conduct an operation there without a “credible” plan to protect civilians and instead focus on a ceasefire. Egypt said an operation could jeopardize diplomatic ties.
Israel has said it has no plans to force Palestinians into Egypt. However, new satellite photos suggest that Egypt is preparing for this scenario. The images show Egypt building a wall and leveling land near its border with Gaza.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who also spoke at the Munich Security Conference, said: “It is not our intention to provide safe areas or facilities, but … we will provide support to the innocent civilians should this happen.”
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reiterated during a phone call with the French leader that Egypt categorically rejects “the expulsion of Palestinians to Egypt in any way, shape or form,” according to el-Sisi's office.
Two senior Egyptian officials said Egypt was building additional defense lines in an existing buffer zone that stretches 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details with the media.
The buffer zone, established as part of Egypt's fight against an insurgency by the Islamic State group, was intended to prevent arms smuggling to and from Gaza.
ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR HELP
Israel has provided no concrete evidence to support its claim that Hamas is diverting UN aid, and its targeted killings of Gaza police commanders guarding truck convoys have made it “virtually impossible” to safely distribute the goods, a senior US official said. Envoy in rare public criticism of Israel.
David Satterfield, the Biden administration's special Middle East envoy for humanitarian issues, said criminal gangs are increasingly targeting the convoys following the withdrawal of police escorts following Israeli attacks.
“We are working with the Israeli government and the Israeli military to see what solutions can be found here, because everyone wants the aid to continue,” Satterfield told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday. A solution “requires the return of some form of security escort.”
Satterfield said Israeli officials had not provided “specific evidence of the diversion or theft” of U.N. aid, but the militants had their own interest in “using other aid channels … to determine where and to whom the aid goes.” .
Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas is diverting aid, including fuel, following its invasion of Gaza, a claim rejected by U.N. aid groups. Last week, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed three senior police commanders in Rafah. Two officers were killed in another attack.
Satterfield also addressed the challenges facing the main U.N. agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza, whose director, in a statement released Saturday, accused Israel of trying to “destroy” the organization and warned that its operations in April without further support would be discontinued.
ISRAELI TROOPS ENTER A HOSPITAL
In recent weeks, the Israeli military has focused on Khan Younis, Gaza's second largest city and a Hamas stronghold.
The army said on Saturday it had arrested 100 suspected Hamas militants at the city's Nasser Hospital. Israel's defense minister said at least 20 of those arrested were involved in the Oct. 7 attack.
The Health Ministry said troops had converted the hospital into a “military barracks” and detained large numbers of medical workers. Israel says it does not target patients or doctors, but staff say the facility is struggling under heavy fire.
Nour Abou Jameh was among the thousands staying at Nasser Hospital who were forced to leave last week. “There were shots and shells coming from all directions,” Jameh said. “When we left at night, there were corpses lying on the streets and even tanks attacked and smashed them.”
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Mroue reported from Beirut.
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