Twin Israeli Airstrikes Kill 11 In Gaza, Israel PM Says ‘Committed To US Ceasefire Proposal’
Eleven Palestinians were killed after Israeli air strikes hit two separate locations in Gaza on Monday. According to Reuters, the first strike hit a food distribution centre in Gaza City and killed three people. The second hit near Bani Suhaila town in the southern Gaza Strip and killed at least eight, including guards who accompanied aid trucks.
No immediate comments were made by Israel, which usually denies hitting aid trucks and accuses militants of causing harm to civilians by operating among them, Reuters reported.
An earlier airstrike, at a medical clinic in Gaza City, killed the director of Gaza’s Ambulance and Emergency Department, the enclave’s health ministry was reported as saying by the news agency.
Israel’s military said the strike had killed a senior Hamas armed commander.
However, the Gaza health ministry said that the director’s killing brought the number of staff killed by Israeli fire to 500 since October 7.
Meanwhile, in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where Israeli forces have taken control of eastern, southern and central parts of the city, the forces pursued their raid into the western and northern areas, the residents were reported as saying by Reuters. The residents, the news agency added, described heavy fighting in the area.
On Sunday, the residents said that Israeli tanks had advanced to the edge of the Mawasi displaced persons’ camp in northwest Rafah. Families were reportedly forced to leave northward to Khan Younis and to Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, the only area in the enclave where tanks have not yet invaded.
Israeli PM Netanyahu ‘Committed To Deal’
Despite their continued advancement into Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel was “committed” to the proposed deal outlined by US President Joe Biden for a ceasefire in Gaza in return for the release of hostages.
“We are committed to the Israeli proposal that President Biden endorsed,” Netanyahu said on Monday during a special plenum session of the Knesset (parliament) summoned by the opposition, noting, “Our position has not changed”, IANS reported.
The deal was first presented in late May. This is the first time the Israeli side has confirmed its approval and support towards the proposal.
US Urges Israel To Avoid Escalation With Lebanon
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a meeting with Israel’s defence minister, urged the country to avoid further escalation in Lebanon. Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is visiting Washington in a trip aimed at reaffirming the country’s ties with the US, after Netanyahu publicly criticised Washington for what he said was a delay in weapons deliveries.
During the two-hour meeting, at the State Department, Blinken discussed indirect diplomacy between Israel and Hamas aimed at securing the release of all hostages and alleviating the suffering of Palestinian people, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Blinken also “underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes”.
Tensions have risen between Israel and Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militant movement Hezbollah with growing exchanges of fire between the two.
