Skip next section Hamas says Gaza City push puts cease-fire talks in danger
07/09/2024July 9, 2024
Hamas says Gaza City push puts cease-fire talks in danger
has said that Israel’s push into Gaza City is jeopardizing cease-fire talks.
The militant group, listed as a terrorist organization in the United States, European Union, and numerous other jurisdictions, said Israel tanks deepened their presence into some Gaza City districts such as Shejaia, Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa on Tuesday.
The assault “could bring the negotiation process back to square one,” Hamas quoted its leader Ismail Haniyeh as saying.
Both the armed wings of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group said they were fighting Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar fire, and that they had inflicted casualties.
However, the Israeli military gave no immediate response to the claims.
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Skip next section Israeli forces advance in Gaza City
07/09/2024July 9, 2024
Israeli forces advance in Gaza City
Israeli forces have moved deeper into , saying they are pursuing Hamas and other militants said to have regrouped and to be hiding among civilians.
The Israeli troops are fighting in areas thought to have largely been cleared of militants months ago in northern Gaza.
Residents in several districts of the city reported the fiercest fighting since the war began on Monday as tanks advanced further into the territory.
The military said it had intelligence showing that militants from Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group were in the area. It urged residents to head south to the city of Deir al-Balah.
Israel ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza in the first weeks of the war and it has stopped most people from returning. However, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians stayed there, living in shelters or the shells of homes.
The Israel Defense Forces said, this time, the evacuation call was only made to civilians in specific areas.
Residents said there had been artillery and tank fire, as well as airstrikes.
Gaza’s Health Ministry only has limited access to the north, and it did not immediately report casualties.
The IDF said that in the district of Shijaiyah, which has seen weeks of fighting, troops had raided and destroyed schools and a clinic.
https://p.dw.com/p/4i3Lx
Skip next section Syria says Israel strikes target near coast
07/09/2024July 9, 2024
Syria says Israel strikes target near coast
The Syrian Defense Ministry says an Israeli strike caused damage but no casualties near the coastal city of Baniyas.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, , mainly against army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including those from .
The operation was the third such attack in the Baniyas area this year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“Two Israeli missiles targeted at least two buildings, one of which belonged to an air defense battalion,” the UK-based war monitor said.
The group added that Iranian military advisers were near the area, which is a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The Syrian Defense Ministry in May said an Israeli air strike in Baniyas had killed a girl and injured 10 other civilians.
Israel has ramped up its attacks in Syria since the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked a war in the Gaza Strip.
While Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes, they repeatedly stressed that they will not permit arch-enemy Iran to grow stronger in Syria.
rc/lo (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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The post Middle East updates: Israel deepens Gaza City offensive appeared first on Deutsche Welle.