Israel continues offensive against Hamas, urges residents to leave Gaza City
Israel on Wednesday urged all residents to evacuate Gaza City, where Israeli troops are continuing a fierce offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas after more than nine months of a war that has ravaged the territory.
Negotiations for a ceasefire and a hostage release are due to resume in Qatar, with the participation of the head of the CIA and Israeli intelligence services, a source close to the talks said.
In recent days, the Israeli army resumed operations in the northern Gaza Strip, after claiming in January that it had dismantled the Hamas command in that part of the territory.
"Soldiers conducted an operation against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who were using the UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees] headquarters in Gaza City as a base to launch attacks," the army said.
Soldiers "eliminated terrorists during the fighting and located large quantities of weapons," it added. UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma said it was difficult to know if there were refugees in the facility.
The Israeli army launched a ground operation in the Shujaiyia neighbourhood in the east of the city on 27 June before extending its offensive to the centre of the city, where "tens of thousands of people" were called to evacuate, according to the UN.
In leaflets on Wednesday, the armed forces urged "all persons present in Gaza City" to leave the city and head south through "security corridors".
Displaced for the 12th time
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, warned that there is no longer a safe haven in the Palestinian territory, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007 and where 80 per cent of the 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced.
Um Nimr Al Amal fled Gaza City with her family. "It's the 12th time [we've fled], how many times do we still have to endure it? A thousand times? Where are we going to end up? I have no more energy, I can't take it anymore," he said.
The conflict erupted on 7 October, when Islamist commandos killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 in southern Israel, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
The Israeli army estimates that 116 people remain captive in Gaza, 42 of them reportedly dead.
In response, Israel vowed to "annihilate" Hamas and launched an offensive in Gaza that has already killed 38,295 people, mostly civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.
Four Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in Israeli shelling in Nuseirat in the centre and two others in Khan Younis in the south, medical sources said.
"They were all civilians"
At least 29 people were killed, including children, in an Israeli attack on a school in Abassan near Khan Younis on Tuesday, a medical source and Hamas said.
The Israeli army said the bombing was aimed at "terrorists". Israel, the US and the EU consider Hamas to be a "terrorist organisation". The Nasser hospital was also targeted.
"We were sitting near the school gate when suddenly there were rockets hitting a group of people. These people were not armed, they were not part of the resistance, they were all civilians," said Mohammed Sukkar.
The German foreign ministry denounced the "unacceptable" shelling and said in X that "civilians, especially children, must not be caught in the crossfire".
Israel and Hamas still disagree on how to reach a truce. The Islamist movement softened its demands, but accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of blocking negotiations.