Intense bombardment of a Gaza Strip metropolis stuffed with refugees flattened a big mosque and killed or wounded scores of individuals on Thursday as Israel repeated its intention to push into the world with floor forces if Hamas doesn’t launch hostages earlier than the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Nearly 100 folks have been killed throughout the enclave from Israeli strikes over the previous day, the Gazan well being authorities mentioned Thursday, bringing the whole loss of life toll after virtually 20 weeks of warfare to almost 30,000.
Around half of the Gaza Strip’s inhabitants of two.3 million individuals are crammed into the southern metropolis of Rafah alongside the border with Egypt, the place the strike on the mosque occurred Thursday. Wafa, the Palestinian information company, reported that at the very least seven Palestinians had been killed in a single day in Rafah and dozens extra wounded.
Israel’s preparations for an invasion of that space come as diplomats raced to forestall it, with Ramadan set to start round March 10.
President Biden’s Middle East coordinator, Brett McGurk, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for “a good couple of hours,” specializing in whether or not negotiators may “cement a hostage deal” in response to a White House spokesman.
Talks final week in Cairo for a hostage deal failed when Mr. Netanyahu withdrew his negotiators, accusing Hamas of refusing to budge on what he referred to as “ludicrous” calls for and pledging to press on with Israel’s offensive.
But on Wednesday night time, Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s warfare cupboard, mentioned there had been momentum on a brand new draft of a deal that indicated a “possibility to advance.” But he additionally warned that if no deal have been struck, the Israeli army would proceed preventing throughout Ramadan.
One individual briefed on the talks mentioned there have been indications that each Hamas and Israel have been keen to barter over an interim deal that would alternate 35 Israeli hostages who’re both medically frail or older for an undetermined variety of Palestinian prisoners.
On Thursday, Israel’s protection minister, Yoav Gallant, mentioned that the federal government “will expand the authority given to our hostage negotiators.”
According to Israeli officers, about 130 hostages are nonetheless held in Gaza, although officers consider that at the very least 30 of them are lifeless.
Senior Israeli, Qatari, U.S. and Egyptian officers will meet in Paris on Friday to aim to advance a deal for a cease-fire and the discharge of hostages held by Hamas, an Israeli official and an individual briefed on the talks mentioned on Thursday. Qatar and Egypt have been performing as intermediaries between Israel and Hamas, which don’t negotiate immediately.
The Mossad chief, David Barnea; the C.I.A. director, William Burns; the Qatari prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani; and Abbas Kamel, the top of Egyptian intelligence, are among the many anticipated attendees on the Paris talks, the Israeli official mentioned, talking on the situation of anonymity to debate the diplomatic developments, as did the individual briefed on the talks.
On Thursday, Hamas praised a capturing close to a checkpoint within the Israeli-occupied West Bank that killed at the very least one individual, whom native media recognized as an Israeli man in his 20s, and injured a number of others Thursday morning. Violence within the West Bank has soared because the warfare in Gaza started, underlining the broader challenges of stability and governance throughout the occupied territories.
In Thursday’s capturing, three Palestinians used computerized weapons to fireplace from a automotive towards a site visitors jam in entrance of the A Za’im checkpoint, which results in Jerusalem, the Israeli police mentioned. All three attackers have been killed, Eli Levy, a police spokesman, mentioned in a video assertion.
The Israeli army mentioned Thursday that it was preventing Hamas throughout the breadth of the Gaza Strip. Troops “continued to expand” their offensives in northern Gaza, the army mentioned. At the identical time, the Israeli navy focused vessels that it mentioned have been being utilized by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, one other militant group. And within the south, Israeli troops engaged and killed 15 fighters within the metropolis of Khan Younis, the army mentioned.
In Rafah, the extraordinary bombardment Thursday heightened fears amongst residents who mentioned it was the heaviest since 10 days in the past, when Israeli forces carried out a raid there to free two hostages and launched a wave of assaults that the well being authorities mentioned killed dozens of Palestinians.
“It was a very hard night,” mentioned Akram al-Satri, who’s sheltering in Rafah. “They destroyed Al-Farouk mosque, which is one of the largest mosques in the area,” he added in a voice message on Thursday. Video revealed on Thursday by the Reuters information company exhibits a big pile of particles on the web site of the mosque.
The Israeli army didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Thursday in regards to the strikes on Rafah. Mr. Netanyahu has described the town as a Hamas stronghold, and says the purpose of Israel’s marketing campaign is to eradicate the militant group.
Since the Rafah raid and Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement of a deliberate floor offensive in Rafah, some folks there — a lot of whom had already been displaced a number of occasions — started packing up and transferring north.
On Thursday morning, after an evening of concern as drones buzzed and airstrikes boomed, extra displaced households from Rafah started arriving on the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah, a metropolis in central Gaza, mentioned Beirut Hana, a lawyer who’s sheltering there. They arrange tents in and across the hospital and on empty plots of land, she mentioned.
“Since the Israeli army announced their plans for a ground invasion of Rafah, people became scared and started moving,” Ms. Hana mentioned in a cellphone interview. “Every day since then, large crowds of people have been arriving in Deir al Balah and Nuseirat,” one other metropolis in central Gaza.
Ms. Hana mentioned that though some folks have been returning to their properties in Deir al Balah, many others who weren’t from the town had come seeking security. But heavy bombardment has additionally continued in central Gaza, residents mentioned.
“So many people are fleeing Rafah and coming here thinking they would be safer, only to get killed here,” mentioned Ms. Hana, referring to the central strip.
Aaron Boxerman, Adam Sella Nader Ibrahim and Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting.
