Cease-fire NEGOTIATIONS IN DANGER
Hamas blamed Israel for refusing to provide guarantees to end the war and withdraw troops. Israel wants a temporary ceasefire to allow a hostage exchange, but says it will not stop its war until Hamas is defeated.
Negotiators want a cessation of hostilities by the month of Ramadan, which begins on Monday.
But in the early hours, an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City killed 16 people and wounded several others, Palestinian health officials said.
The attack, around dawn in Zeitoun, one of Gaza City’s oldest neighborhoods, hit Abu Shammala’s family home, killing the people inside, according to medics. There was no immediate comment from Israel regarding the attack.
In central Gaza, the Israeli military said its troops had killed about 15 militants in close combat and airstrikes. The command in Khan Younis, where most of Israel’s military operations have been concentrated in recent weeks, targeted locations said to be used by Hamas militants, the military said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing global pressure to protect civilians and reduce suffering.
The conflict has displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, with many living in makeshift tents in the southern city of Rafah, lacking food and basic medical supplies.
The UN estimates that about a quarter of the population is at risk of starvation and that little aid meets daily needs. Aid agencies are now focusing their efforts on delivering aid by sea.
Government sources in Cyprus said a ship carrying about 200 tons of aid was scheduled to sail on Monday, while the US military said the General Frank S. Besson ship was also on its way to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea.
In his State of the Union address last week, US President Joe Biden said the US would build a temporary port off the coast of Gaza to facilitate more aid deliveries.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim gave a positive response to the water corridor but urged the United States to work towards ending the war.
“Ensuring that all the needs of the population in the Gaza Strip are met is not just anyone’s devotion. “This is a right guaranteed under international humanitarian law even in times of war,” Naim told Reuters.
