Israel vows to intensify strikes
Bibi pushes back against US calls to wind down offensive
Gaza City, May 20: Israel unleashed another wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Thursday, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding several, and Hamas fired more rockets, even as expectations rose that a cease-fire could be coming.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back against calls from the US to wind down the Gaza offensive, appearing determined to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in a war that could help save his political career.
Still, officials close to the negotiations say they expect a truce to be announced in the next 24 hours. In another possible sign of progress, Netanyahu scheduled a meeting later Thursday with his Security Cabinet, where the issue of a cease-fire was likely to be debated.
Explosions shook Gaza City and orange flares lit up the pre-dawn sky, with bombing raids also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the southern town of Khan Younis. As the sun rose, residents surveyed the rubble from at least five family homes destroyed in Khan Younis. There were also heavy airstrikes on a commercial thoroughfare in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said it struck at least three homes of Hamas commanders in Khan Younis and another in Rafah, targeting “military infrastructure,” as well as a weapons storage unit at a home in Gaza City. With hundreds already killed in the worst fighting since Israel and Hamas’ 2014 war, US President Joe Biden told Israel on Wednesday that he expected “a significant deescalation today on the path to a cease-fire” — but Netanyahu pushed back, saying he was “determined to continue this operation until its aim is met.”
It marked the first public rift between the two close allies since the fighting began and poses a difficult test of the US-Israel relationship early in Biden’s presidency. Still, an Egyptian intelligence official said a cease-fire was likely late Thursday or early Friday, after the US appeal bolstered Cairo’s own efforts to halt the fighting.
The official spoke on
condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate talks. Khalid Okasha, director of the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies, which has close ties to the government, also said a ceasefire was likely in that timeframe, as did Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official. Visiting the region, and attacks against civilians and civilian property as well as attacks on military targets that cause disproportionate civilian casualties. He said “counterterrorism or self-defence” are not justifications.
He urged Israeli authorities to abide by the laws, “including the proportionate use of force” and called on them “to exercise maximum restraint in the conduct of military operations.” He urged Hamas and other militant groups “to stop the indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars from highly populated civilian neighbourhoods into civilian population centres in Israel.”
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Israel has “the right to defend itself against such unacceptable attacks.” But he also expressed concern about the rising number of civilian victims and voiced support for truce efforts.
Even as the diplomatic efforts appeared to gather strength, an Israeli airstrike smashed into the Khawaldi family’s two-story house in Khan Younis, destroying it. The 11 residents, who were sleeping outside of the home out of fear, were all wounded and hospitalised, said Shaker al-Khozondar, a neighbour.