The Israeli military has advanced further into the southern and western regions of Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Monday.
In the early hours of Monday, the military began what it called counterterrorism operations in the area in northern Gaza and called on civilians to leave before the operation began, the IDF said.
IDF troops reached the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, it said.
Army radio reported clashes with armed members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. According to Palestinian hospital reports, at least 15 people were killed. The number of victims could still rise because rescue workers are unable to reach many residential areas due to the fighting.
Dpa is unable to independently verify the reports.
The Israeli military has previously advanced into the northern section of the besieged coastal area during war.
Residents of the affected neighbourhoods described to dpa the overnight advance as a “night of terror.”
The catalyst for Israel’s war in Gaza was the unprecedented massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 last year in southern Israel.
The militants killed 1,200 people and abducted another 250 as hostages into the Gaza Strip. Israel estimates around 120 kidnapping victims are still in the coastal area, though many of them are likely no longer alive.
According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health authority, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza so far. This figure includes both fighters and civilians.
Israeli army says it has targeted militants inside Gaza school
Late on Monday, the Israeli army said it has launched airstrikes targeting several militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) who were hiding inside a school in central Gaza.
The army used precision ammunition in order to avoid civilian casualties while targeting the group of fighters hiding in the building in the Nuseirat area, the IDF said, without giving further details.
The army again accused both militant groups, Hamas and the PIJ, of “systematically violating humanitarian law” by using “civilian facilities and the population as human shields.”
It comes after the IDF recently said it had targeted Hamas fighters on the grounds of a former school run by UNRWA in Nuseirat. According to Hamas, 16 people were killed in the airstrikes on the school compound.
According to the army, militants had used the school as their operational basis for attacks on the Israeli military, stressing that steps had been taken ahead of the strikes to reduce the risks for civilians.
It was not possible to independently verify the claims from either side.
Israelis in Cairo for indirect talks
An Israeli delegation has departed for Cairo for indirect talks with Hamas to negotiate a ceasefire deal, Israel’s Kan radio reported on Monday.
The Israeli delegation is led by Ronen Bar, the head of the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet, it said.
The discussions, which have been ongoing for months with mediation from Egypt, Qatar, and the US, aim for a ceasefire in the Gaza war and an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Mediators are currently working on formulations to bridge the existing gaps on contentious points.
Hamas is reportedly showing flexibility and has deviated from its core demand that Israel must commit to ending the war.
However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fundamentally insists on Israel’s right to continue the fighting even after the implementation of a future deal.
On Sunday evening, Netanyahu’s office released a document stating that any ceasefire agreement must allow Israel to resume the fighting until all war objectives are met.
Israel has declared the total dismantling of Hamas as a military formation and as a governmental power in the Gaza Strip as one of its war aims.
Critics interpreted the condition Netanyahu described as “non-negotiable” as an attempt to derail the resumed talks in Cairo and Qatar.
Source Agencies
