War unabated as leaders talk truce

‘THERE’S A MASSACRE TAKING PLACE’

Hamas leader due in Cairo to discus three-stage plan to halt fighting.

Mediators pushed on with efforts for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire as fighting raged on in the besieged Gaza Strip yesterday, deepening a dire humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli military said troops had “eliminated dozens of terrorists” in the past day and destroyed a long-range missile launcher in the embattled southern city of Khan Yunis.

The Qatar-based leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was expected in Cairo for talks on a proposed truce yesterday or today.

In Gaza, there was no let-up in the fighting or aerial bombardment, with the current focus of combat in Khan Yunis, where Israel says leading Hamas militants are hiding.

Overnight, witnesses said several Israeli air strikes hit the city.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, 119 people were killed in the strikes.

“There is a massacre taking place right now,” said Leo Cans of international aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Israel accuses Hamas of operating from tunnels under hospitals in Gaza and of using medical facilities as command centres, a charge denied by the Islamist group, which is designated a “terrorist” organisation by the European Union and the United States.

Due to constraints on the delivery of humanitarian aid, the population is “starving to death”, the World Health Organisation’s emergencies director Michael Ryan said on Wednesday.

“The civilians of Gaza are not parties to this conflict and they should be protected, as should be their health facilities,” he added.

In its latest update, the United Nations reported 184 000 more Palestinians from the city had registered to receive humanitarian assistance after fleeing their homes in recent days.

Haniyeh was due in Cairo to discuss a truce proposal thrashed out in Paris last weekend with CIA chief William Burns.

A Hamas source said the threestage plan would start with an initial six-week halt to the fighting that would see more aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip.

Only “women, children and sick men over 60” held by Gaza militants would be freed during that stage in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the source said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

There would also be “negotiations around the withdrawal of Israeli forces”, with Gaza’s rebuilding also among issues addressed by the deal. –