Israel and Hamas, on Tuesday, appeared close to a deal to temporarily halt their devastating six-week war for exchange of dozens of hostages on either side.
But as Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu convened his cabinet for a vote, he vowed to resume the Israeli offensive against Hamas as soon as the truce ends.
“We are at war, and we will continue the war,” he said. “We will continue until we achieve all our goals,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli Cabinet was expected to vote on a plan that would halt Israel’s offensive in Gaza for several days.
This is in exchange for the release of about 50 of the 240 hostages held by Hamas.
Israel has vowed to continue the war until it destroys Hamas’ military capabilities and returns all hostages.
The military said the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are “preparing the battlefield” in the Jabaliya area, north of Gaza City. It claimed IDF have killed dozens of Hamas fighters in recent days.
“Troops discovered three tunnel shafts where fighters were hiding and destroyed rocket launchers,” Israeli military aid.
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It wasn’t possible to independently confirm details of the fighting.
A strike on a nearby hospital killed 12 people on Monday. This is as Israeli troops and tanks battled the Palestinian freedom fighters outside its gates.
Israel claimed Hamas uses civilians and hospitals as shields, while critics say Israel’s siege and relentless aerial bombardment amount to collective punishment of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
More than 11,000 Palestinians have died, two-thirds of them women and minors. More than 2,700 others are missing and believed buried under rubble, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry says it has been unable to update its count since Nov. 11 because of the health sector’s collapse.
Gaza health officials say the toll has risen sharply since, and hospitals continue to report deaths from daily strikes, often dozens at a time.
The Health Ministry in the West Bank last reported a toll of 13,300 but stopped providing its own count on Tuesday without giving a reason.
Because of that, and because officials there declined to explain how they tracked deaths after Nov. 11, the AP decided to stop reporting its count.
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Some 1,200 people have died in Israel, mostly during the Oct. 7 attack. Israeli military claimed Hamas fighters took around 240 Israelis captives.
3 doctors die in fighting in Jabaliya spills
In another report, from Gaza City, four people, including three doctors, died when a hospital was struck amid intense fighting on Tuesday in the Jabaliya refugee camp, the hospital director told Al-Jazeera TV.
The director of al-Awda hospital, Ahmed Mahna, blamed the strike on Israel. Associated Press could not independently confirm this claim.
The medical aid group, Doctors Without Borders, confirmed that two of the doctors killed worked for it.
The group called for better protection of medical facilities, staff and patients in the besieged enclave.
“Seeing doctors killed next to hospital beds is beyond tragic. This must stop now,” the aid group said in a post on X.
The Israeli military said Hamas fighters had retrenched in Jabaliya, a densely built district of concrete buildings near Gaza City.
It said the building houses families displaced in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has bombarded the area for weeks. (AP News and other sources)
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