Author: Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, his office said on Tuesday, as fighting in the ravaged Palestinian enclave continues. As tensions intensify, a deal to secure their release may be imminent.
Israeli forces launched a new attack on the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza after ordering civilians to evacuate some areas they believed were under renewed attack by Palestinian militants.
Thousands of people fled to safer areas as Israeli airstrikes hit, U.N. officials said.
Netanyahu is currently in Washington and is expected to meet U.S. President Joe Biden after a speech to Congress later this week.
“The conditions are certainly ripening (for a deal),” he said in a speech to the hostages’ families in the U.S. capital on Monday. “That’s a good sign.”
Biden outlined efforts for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in May and has gained momentum over the past month, brokered by Egypt and Qatar.
“Unfortunately, it won’t happen all at once; there will be phases. However, I believe we can move forward with the agreement so that we have the leverage to release others (hostages who were not released in the first phase),” Neta Nyahu said.
Ruby Chen, the father of Itai Chen, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen whose body was preserved in Gaza, was one of the family members who met with Netanyahu. one.
“He did say that conditions are ripe, but I have reservations about that,” Chen told Israel Army Radio.
Chen said he hoped Biden would put more pressure on Netanyahu to secure a deal. US election.
A Palestinian official familiar with the mediation effort accused Netanyahu of stalling.
“Hamas has shown the flexibility needed to reach an agreement and the ball is in his court,” the official said.
Israeli negotiating teams are due to resume talks on Thursday that would include the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. During a week-long truce in November, 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
According to Israeli statistics, on October 7, Hamas attacked southern Israel and took hostages. About 1,200 of them were killed and about 250 were captured.
Hamas and other militants still hold 120 hostages, about one-third of whom have been declared dead by Israeli authorities in absentia.
The death toll among Palestinians in Israel’s retaliatory offensive since then has exceeded 39,000, according to health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble by airstrikes and shelling.
fear and displacement
Israeli airstrikes hit the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Tuesday, as Israeli troops and Palestinian militants battled in the tattered streets, forcing civilians to flee.
The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, said on the 10th: “Thousands of people are moving again, fleeing attacks and military operations. This situation is impossible. The cycle of fear and displacement has gone on for too long. Everyone Exhausted.
The Israeli military said that dozens of militants have been killed by tanks, fighter jets or close combat in Khan Younis. Weapons caches and tunnels used by militants have been destroyed, reports said.
Palestinian medics said one person was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the area on Tuesday, after reports of dozens of deaths in Israeli attacks on the area on Monday. The Ministry of Health in Gaza does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. Health officials said most of the victims were civilians.
Farther north, in Gaza City, Israeli bombing killed 16 people, medics said.
In Rafah, near the Egyptian border, an Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians as Israel said it was eliminating the last of Hamas’ forces.
Hamas said its militants were fighting Israeli soldiers in Rafah. Residents said tanks were already operating in much of the city but had not yet fully taken control of the northern and western areas.
