NEW YEAR, NEW EFFORT FOR LASTING TRUCE IN GAZA WAR
▶ Israelis discuss ceasefire as Hamas agrees ‘in principle’ to Egypt proposal
Israel’s war cabinet met to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza as war raged into the new year.
Officials considered a proposal for a hostage deal put forward by Qatari negotiators, Israeli media reported.
The details of the deal are unknown, but it reportedly aims to stop the fighting for “a few weeks”, senior officials said.
The Qatari proposal is separate to one put forward by Egypt, which featured a three-stage plan to ending a war that has killed more than 21,800 people.
It erupted after a Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200, with 240 hostages taken.
Hamas, which Israel has vowed to eradicate, has agreed “in principle” to the Egyptian plan, sources told The National on Saturday. Hamas leaders want guarantees of a permanent ceasefire, the sources said.
Hopes for a ceasefire come as the conflict threatens to escalate into a wider regional war.
Yesterday, the US Navy defended a commercial ship against an attack by Iranbacked Houthi militants in the Red Sea. Helicopters destroyed several boats that attacked the Maersk Hangzhou, US Central Command said.
The navy responded to a distress call sent out by the Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned vessel after four boats carrying armed men fired at the crew.
The ship’s security fired back, before attack helicopters destroyed three of the four boats, killing all on board. The fourth fled the area.
The Houthis said yesterday that 10 members of its forces were killed. The Iran-backed group vowed to continue attacks from Yemen in support of Gaza.
The Maersk Hangzhou was hit by a missile as it crossed the south of the Red Sea on Saturday night. The USS Gravely and USS Laboon responded to a distress call and shot down two other missiles fired by the Houthis.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday the war would last for “many more months”.
Israel continued its campaign of bombardment in Gaza over the weekend as the UN warned the enclave faces a dire threat of famine.
A fierce wave of Israeli air and artillery strikes hit central Gaza overnight on Saturday, with dozens killed in the areas of Al Zawayda, Maghazi and Nuseirat.
“Shelling continued all night, and we were waiting for the morning to come so we could leave the area,” Jihad Safadi, who lives in the Bureij camp in central Gaza, told The National.
“People were killed in front of our house. No one can reach them. The Israeli quadcopter shoots towards anyone who tries to reach them,” she added, referring to the drones used by the Israeli military.
At least 12 people were killed and others were injured when an Israel air strike hit a house in Al Zawayda, medics said.
At least three people were killed in Al Sawarha neighbourhood of the Nuseirat refugee camp, while five were killed in the Maghazi camp.
Several Palestinians were injured when their house was hit by Israeli forces to the west of the Nuseirat camp.
Riham Al Washahi, who had fled from the Beach refugee camp in northern Gaza to the Nuseirat camp, said Palestinians in Gaza had no hope that the war would end.
“The problem is that we were waiting for any truce or ceasefire, but it seems that they are continuing the war and there’s no hope of stopping,” she said.
The overnight strikes followed attacks on Friday and Saturday in which at least 165 people were killed and 250 wounded, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
Israel’s military pressed forward with its ground operation over the weekend, pushing deeper into central and southern Gaza.
On Saturday, fighters from Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzedine Al Quds Brigades, said they had engaged in battles with Israeli troops in northern and eastern Khan Younis.
In central Gaza’s Deir Al Balah, Israeli boats launched “intense attacks” near the beach, Palestinian outlet Al Awdah reported.
Several wounded people arrived at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah after air strikes hit the area.
More than 21,800 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground and air offensive in the enclave, about 70 per cent of them women and children, the ministry said.
The war began on October 7 after Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, launched attacks on southern Israeli towns, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
Yesterday, the Israeli army announced the death of two more of its soldiers, bringing the military’s official death toll for the war to 172.
Meanwhile, civilians in Gaza are facing an escalating humanitarian crisis.
More than 40 per cent of the enclave’s population is at risk of famine, the UNRWA, the world body’s agency for Palestinian refugees, announced yesterday.
“Every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and water. We need regular supplies and safe and sustainable humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip,” the agency said in a social media post.
The post was accompanied by a video that appeared to show crowds of people running and clambering on to a UNRWA aid convoy – a now common sight as Gazans grow increasingly desperate for food and basic necessities.
Israel has said it is prepared to let ships deliver aid to the strip as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus.
Under the arrangement, cargo would undergo security inspection in the Cypriot port of Larnaca before being ferried to Gaza. It would mark the first easing of an Israeli naval blockade imposed on the enclave in 2007.
Israel has described the corridor as a means of ending its civilian ties to Gaza.
“It can start immediately,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM yesterday.
He said Britain, France, Greece and the Netherlands were among the countries with vessels able to land directly on the shores of Gaza.
“They requested of us that the equipment come via Ashdod. The answer is no. It won’t come via Ashdod. It won’t come via Israel.
“We want disengagement, with security control. That’s the goal of this process,” Mr Cohen said.
On Saturday, the ministry said about 50,000 pregnant women were suffering from malnutrition and health complications.
Those with high-risk pregnancies seeking refuge in health centres are lacking clean drinking water, proper hygiene, food and health care, said ministry spokesman Dr Ashraf Qudra.
“More than 900,000 children taking shelter are exposed to the dangers of severe cold, dehydration, malnutrition, respiratory and skin diseases and a lack of inoculations for newborn children,” he said.
People were killed in front of our house. No one can reach them. The Israeli quadcopter shoots anyone who tries JIHAD SAFADI Resident of Bureij refugee camp