Netanyahu remarks complicate cease-fire negotiations, critics say

The Israeli navy stated intelligence indicated the presence of Hamas “terrorist infrastructure, operatives, weapons, and investigation and detention rooms” in areas of the town, together with on the headquarters of the U.N. Reduction and Works Company (UNRWA) that aids for Palestinian refugees.

Residents and civil protection employees described chaos as tanks moved into neighborhoods the place some households had solely simply arrived after following evacuation orders in different elements of the town.

“The extent of concern and terror can’t be described,” stated Zahia Odeh, 59, who fled her home within the Tuffah neighborhood two days in the past. However she stated she was contemplating going again. “The noise of bombs may be very loud,” she stated, describing circumstances in the home she was sheltering in with 45 different folks south of Gaza Metropolis.

“Meals and water are scarce. I don’t understand how we are able to reside on this scenario. Each time we’re instructed to evacuate, we don’t know the place to go.”

The overwhelming majority of Gaza’s inhabitants of greater than 2 million is now displaced, lots of them a number of instances. Round 200,000 to 300,000 individuals are estimated to have remained in Gaza Metropolis and the north of the enclave, the place the humanitarian scenario has been most acute.

“Final evening was extraordinarily tough,” stated Mahmoud Bassal, a civil protection spokesman. “Most individuals spent the evening within the streets and on the roads, sleeping in unsuitable areas amid concern, terror and missiles.”

He stated rescue employees haven’t been capable of attain our bodies trapped underneath the rubble. Massive numbers of individuals had been displaced a day earlier, he stated, including that Israeli operations widened on Monday, with tanks seen within the space of UNRWA headquarters.

Juliette Touma, an UNRWA spokeswoman, stated she had no data on operations on the headquarters, which the company’s workers evacuated in October. It has since been utilized by displaced Palestinians searching for shelter, in addition to by the IDF as a base of operations, she stated.

“We’re on the street now as there isn’t a place to go,” stated Reem, a 38-year-old resident of the Rimal neighborhood who spoke on the situation that she not be recognized by her full title for safety causes. She stated she fled her along with her household Monday afternoon after they obtained a name notifying them to maneuver south. However as they left the realm, it was already underneath heavy bombardment, she stated.

“We had no protected streets or space to stroll via,” Reem stated, describing climbing partitions to attempt to discover cowl from the capturing. “They had been capturing something shifting,” she stated.

The brand new evacuation zone included buildings used as non permanent lodging for these displaced following a June 27 order for folks to depart jap Gaza Metropolis, based on the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The brand new operation got here at a crunch second for cease-fire talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu injected new uncertainty into the negotiations late Sunday, insisting that Israel ought to be capable to resume preventing as a part of any deal accepted by negotiators.

His assertion appeared to lift the bar for what Israel would settle for in a deal and additional tempered any lingering expectations of an imminent peace.

Netanyahu stipulated that “any deal will enable Israel to renew preventing till the entire goals of the warfare have been achieved.” A press release issued by his workplace prompt that the prime minister could be unwilling to completely decide to a everlasting cease-fire till the whole elimination of Hamas in Gaza — one thing he has repeatedly described as a key intention of the warfare, alongside the discharge of the hostages and the making certain of Israel’s safety.

Netanyahu’s workplace additionally stated that any deal would wish to forestall the smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza and “maximize the variety of dwelling hostages” launched by Hamas — fairly than the return of all of the hostages.

The assertion was criticized by Netanyahu’s home political opponents in addition to Israeli demonstrators campaigning for a hostage-release deal. On Sunday, opposition chief Yair Lapid condemned Netanyahu’s assertion as “provocative messages,” whereas protesters in Tel Aviv accused the Israeli prime minister of stymieing peace talks with the brand new circumstances.

“Along with his irresponsible assertion, Netanyahu as soon as once more proved himself to be the one who obstructed [the deal],” stated Einav Zangauker, a mom of one of many hostages, who suspended herself in a cage above the demonstration in Tel Aviv in protest.

The assertion comes as the USA, Egypt and Qatar proceed makes an attempt to dealer a cease-fire and hostage launch deal. In Could, President Biden outlined a three-phase plan that features a six-week preliminary stage with a cease-fire and a surge in humanitarian assist, forming the idea of the present spherical of talks.

CIA Director William J. Burns, a key U.S. participant in previous cease-fire negotiations, is returning to the Center East this week because the Biden administration seeks to nudge the method ahead, based on a Center East authorities official aware of the preparations.

Burns will arrive in Cairo on Tuesday and journey onward to Qatar for conferences with Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officers and intelligence counterparts on Wednesday, stated the official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate ongoing negotiations. The CIA declined to touch upon Burns’s journey.

On Monday, Israeli media reported that an Israeli delegation led by intelligence chief Ronen Bar would proceed negotiations in Egypt.

Final week, Israel and Hamas resumed oblique talks in Doha, Qatar, sparking muted optimism after weeks of back-and-forth. In keeping with an individual aware of the negotiations, one of many new sticking factors is the transition from the primary to the second part of the proposed framework settlement.

Right here’s what else to know

Israeli forces stated they struck a number of Hezbollah navy targets throughout southern Lebanon. In a press release Monday, the Israel Protection Forces stated its fighter jets hit a weapons storage facility and different targets on Lebanese territory and fired artillery to “take away a menace” in different elements of the nation’s south.

No less than 38,193 folks have been killed and 87,903 injured in Gaza for the reason that warfare began, based on the Gaza Well being Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants however says nearly all of the useless are girls and kids. Israel estimates that about 1,200 folks had been killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault, together with greater than 300 troopers, and it says 323 troopers have been killed for the reason that begin of its navy operations in Gaza.