Hamas gunmen tried to enter the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip this Sunday (19), and at least 11 people were killed when Israeli shelling hit a house, doctors said.
Sources close to the negotiations say that mediators are close to reaching an agreement between Israel and Hamas for the release of dozens of women and children in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for a five-day pause in the war.
The ceasefire period could also speed up the entry of supplies to Gaza’s civilians.
The North American newspaper The Washington Post said that, on Saturday (18), a provisional agreement was reached, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US officials denied. A White House spokesperson said efforts to reach an agreement continue.
This Sunday, however, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, said in an interview with ABC television that the Israelis are confident that a large number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in the coming days”.
During its attack on Israeli soil, which took place on October 7, the group took around 240 hostages.
In response, Israel decreed that it would carry out a total siege on the Gaza Strip and invade Palestinian territory to eradicate Hamas. Since the start of the operation, the humanitarian crisis in the region has worsened.
This Sunday, the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, said in Doha that the only points preventing the release of those kidnapped were “very small”, mainly logistical challenges.
Israeli tanks and troops invaded Gaza in October and took control of large areas in the north, northwest and east around Gaza City, according to the army.
But resistance to Hamas’ “guerrilla” style remains intense in parts of the enclave’s highly urbanized north, including parts of Gaza City and the sprawling Jabalia and Beach refugee camps.
A witness reported battles between Hamas men and Israeli forces trying to advance to Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in the enclave, with almost 100,000 people.
The site is under heavy Israeli bombardment which, according to Palestinian doctors, has killed many civilians.
The Israeli Army asked this Sunday, through social media and in Arabic, that residents of several neighborhoods in Jabalia leave the region and head to the south of the Gaza Strip “to preserve their security” and that, therefore, reason, would interrupt military activities from 10 am to 2 pm (local time).
After the “pause” period ended, 11 Palestinians were killed in Jabalia by an Israeli airstrike on a house, the Gaza Strip Ministry of Health reported.
About 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, according to Israeli counts, making it the deadliest day in the country’s 75-year history.
See also: CNN has access to images taken by Hamas in attacks against Israel
Source: CNN Brasil
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