Israel announced on Thursday that it will dispatch negotiators to Qatar this weekend for discussions aimed at reaching a long-sought Gaza agreement, as the death toll from an extensive Israeli operation in the northern Palestinian territory continues to rise.
The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, is scheduled to travel to Doha, Qatar's capital, on Sunday, according to a statement from the Israeli prime minister's office. He will participate in talks with US and Qatari officials. This apparent resumption of stalled truce negotiations comes as Israel faces pressure to end its conflicts with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
During a meeting with Qatar's leaders in Doha on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that mediators would explore new options following the failure of previous efforts to secure a ceasefire and release hostages. 'We discussed options to capitalize on this moment and next steps to move the process forward,' Blinken told reporters. The US and Qatar are seeking a plan 'so that Israel can withdraw, so that Hamas cannot reconstitute, and so that the Palestinian people can rebuild their lives and their futures,' he added.
Qatar confirmed that US and Israeli teams would travel to Doha, with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani noting that Qatari mediators have 're-engaged' with Hamas since the Israeli military killed the group's leader, Yahya Sinwar. There was no mention of Hamas participating in the planned Doha meeting. Israeli and US officials, along with some analysts, have identified Sinwar, who was killed last week in Gaza, as a significant obstacle to a deal that would allow the release of 97 hostages still held by militants in Gaza, 34 of whom the Israeli military claims are dead.
Following the announcement of the new talks, an Israeli group representing families of hostages urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas to secure an agreement to free the remaining captives. 'Time is running out,' the Hostages and Missing Families Forum stated.
After nearly a year of war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack, Israel expanded its focus to Lebanon a month ago, vowing to secure its northern border from Hezbollah attacks. It has maintained pressure on Hamas, launching an operation earlier this month in the north of Gaza where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped.
'More than 770 people have been killed' in the territory's north since the operation began 19 days ago, according to Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal, who warned that the toll could rise as people remain buried under the rubble. He also reported that a strike on a school-turned-shelter in central Gaza killed 17 people on Thursday, while the Israeli military claimed it was targeting Hamas militants at the site.
Palestinian woman Umm Muhammad recounted to AFP that she was sitting in a classroom when the strike occurred. 'I hugged my little girl and I couldn't see anything through the thick plume of smoke,' she said. 'I ran and screamed for my sister and found her alive downstairs, but there were (some) children torn to pieces.'
The civil defence agency also stated that it can no longer provide first responder services in the north, accusing Israeli forces of threatening to 'bomb and kill' its crews. The Israeli military asserts that the goal of its assault is to destroy the operational capabilities Hamas is attempting to rebuild in the north. Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, based in the occupied West Bank, accused Israel of trying to 'empty' northern Gaza of people and 'starving the population.'
During his visit to the region, Blinken acknowledged 'progress' on aid for Gaza but emphasized that more needed to be done, pledging an additional $135 million in assistance to the Palestinians. The Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 42,847 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
The war in Lebanon erupted last month, nearly a year after Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border fire into Israel in support of its ally Hamas. At least 1,580 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real number is likely to be higher. In Lebanon, Israel conducted at least 17 raids overnight that leveled six buildings, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA), sending a huge ball of fire enveloped in a tower of smoke soaring into the night sky.
On Thursday, the NNA reported artillery shelling on several border villages as well as 'a series of air strikes' near the southern town of Bint Jbeil. The Israeli military claimed it hit Hezbollah weapons production facilities in the group's south Beirut bastion. In south Lebanon, also a stronghold of Hezbollah, the group said its militants were clashing at close range with Israeli troops in a border village. Hezbollah earlier claimed it launched a 'large rocket salvo' at the northern Israeli town of Safed, after vowing to keep firing into Israel until a ceasefire is reached not only in Lebanon but also in Gaza.
At a conference in Paris on Thursday, $800 million was raised for humanitarian aid in Lebanon, according to the French government. Attending the conference, Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on 'the international community to hold together and support efforts... to implement an immediate ceasefire.' Imran Riza, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, warned that 'Lebanon risks falling off a humanitarian cliff.' 'Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure have reached alarming levels,' he said, decrying 'unrelenting attacks on healthcare workers and first responders.'
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