The war between Israel and Hamas has claimed the lives of 770 people in less than three weeks in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave’s Civil Defense Agency said today, and as new talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire are underway.
Qatar said a meeting was expected to be held between US and Israeli negotiators in Doha as mediators “regained contact” with Hamas following the death of Sinwar leader Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli soldiers on October 16.
US diplomatic chiefAnthony Blinken, who is visiting the emirate, said he expects negotiators to meet in the coming days, adding that the US is considering “different options” to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
This fragile progress, after months of fruitless mediation efforts conducted by Qatar, the US and Egypt, comes at a time when Israel is fighting on a dual front, against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Islamist organizations backed by Iran.
Last night, Israel carried out air strikes against the southern suburbs of Beirut – one of Hezbollah’s strongholds – in one of its most massive strikes since the war began, and made it known that it targeted “warehouses and weapons manufacturing workshops belonging to Hezbollah.”
Blinken warned Israel yesterday of the risk of an escalation at a time when Iran says it is ready to respond in the event of an Israeli attack, following the firing of 200 Iranian missiles at Israel on October 1.
After a year of war, the Israeli army has been conductingoperations in the northern Gaza Strip since October 6, which have claimed the lives, over 19 days, of 770 people, according to Civil Defense, which believes this toll is an underestimate.
In the central part of the Palestinian enclave, at least 17 people were killed in an Israeli shelling of a school that had been converted into a shelter for displaced persons in the Nusayrat camp, the Civil Defense said today.
Blinken, who today announced a new $135 million in US aid for the Palestinians, told Israel yesterday that “the moment” has arrived for an end to the war, which was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.
That attack led to the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to a French News Agency count based on Israeli official data, which includes hostages killed or killed while held captive.
Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 97 people remain hostages in Gaza, of whom 34 were reported dead by the military.
In retaliation, Israel promised to neutralize Hamas and launched military operations that have claimed the lives of at least 42,847 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to Hamas health ministry figures deemed reliable by the UN.
The war has displaced almost all of the 2.4 million residents of the besieged enclave, which is preparing to live through a second winter of increasingly severe shortages.
In Lebanon, Israeli bombardment today targeted the areas of Tyre and Bid Jebail in the south, according to the Ani news agency, which also reported a drone strike on a vehicle on the Beirut-Damascus highway in the eastern part of the Lebanese capital, and fighting in two border villages, Ayta al-Shaab and Ramya.
The Israeli said it had hit “more than 160 targets” of Hezbollah since yesterday, which, for its part, said it had confronted Israeli soldiers in Ayta al-Shaab “with automatic weapons and missiles.”
At least 1,552 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, according to a French News Agency count based on official data. The UN has counted about 800,000 displaced people.
