Truce talks set to resume next week as Israel launches new assault in Gaza

GAZA STRIP

Israel has agreed to resume Gaza ceasefire talks next week at the request of international mediators as Palestinians on Aug. 9  tried to escape a new Israeli military operation in Gaza's main southern area.

Israel's military on Thursday said troops had begun operations in the area of Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza city from which Israeli soldiers had withdrawn in April after months of fierce fighting with Hamas.

Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli military extended evacuation orders for Khan Younis into areas not covered in the earlier announcement. New announcement told residents to evacuate from the entire eastern part of Khan Younis city.

Journalists reported initial strikes and clashes in the area.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the Israeli army has intensified its policy of bombing schools used as shelters for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, killing and injuring hundreds of them.

Just on Aug. 8, two attacks on school shelters in Gaza City killed at least 15 Palestinians and injured some 30 others.

In a report, the human rights group said that these attacks over the past eight days have killed 79 Palestinians.

After the military issued an evacuation order for parts of Khan Yunis, AFPTV images showed a crowd of people flowing through dusty, damaged streets on foot or on donkey and motorcycle carts piled with belongings as horns honked.

"We've been displaced 15 times," said Mohammed Abdeen.

Hamas's unprecedented October attack on Israel started the war in Gaza that has pulled in Iran-aligned groups in neighbouring countries. Following vows of vengeance after the killing of two senior militants, fears of a broader Middle East war have surged.

There has been only one truce in the Gaza fighting, a week-long pause in November that saw Israeli hostages held by Hamas freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.

United States, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have for months tried to secure another deal.

 'Without further delay' 

In a joint statement on Thursday, the three countries' leaders invited the warring parties to resume talks on Aug. 15 in Doha or Cairo "to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay".

Mediators were "prepared to present a final bridging proposal" to resolve remaining issues, they said.

Netanyahu's office said later Thursday that Israel would send a negotiating team "to conclude the details of implementing a deal".

Recent discussions have focused on a framework outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden in late May which he said had been proposed by Israel. The U.N. Security Council endorsed that framework.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas's attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, mostly women and children.

In talks with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, "raised the importance of swiftly achieving an agreement" to return the hostages from Gaza, Israel's military said on Friday.

 Deal needs 'significant' work 

The killing last week of Hamas's political chief Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Tehran had sidelined truce talks. Iran and Hamas blamed his death on Israel which has not directly commented on it.

In the hours after Haniyeh's killing, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani questioned how mediation can succeed "when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?"

Haniyeh's killing came hours after a strike on south Beirut killed military commander Fuad Shukr of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

Israel said it carried out that attack in response to deadly rocket fire on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Hezbollah, in what it says is support for Hamas, has been trading near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces.

Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran and others vowed retaliation for the Shukr and Haniyeh killings, sending fears of a regional war soaring and triggering intensive de-escalation efforts.

Biden called the Egyptian and Qatari leaders this week, after which came word of the planned talks.

A senior Biden administration official said, however: "There's still a significant amount of work to do."

Israel had been "very receptive" to the idea of the talks, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, rejecting suggestions that Netanyahu was stalling on a deal.

Far-right members of Netanyahu's ruling coalition oppose any truce.

- 'Position of strength' -

On Friday General Michael Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command which covers the Middle East, returned to Israel for his second security assessment this week, Israel's military said.

The United States, which has sent extra warships and jets to the region to support Israel, has urged both Iran and Israel to avoid an escalation.

Netanyahu said this week that Israel was "prepared both defensively and offensively" and "determined" to defend itself.

In Khan Yunis, Israeli troops were "engaging in combat both above and below-ground" to eliminate militants and had struck more than 30 Hamas targets in the area, the military said on Friday.

ICC mulls warrants

Meanwhile, dozens of countries, academics and rights groups have filed legal arguments either rejecting or supporting the International Criminal Court's power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and Hamas’ attack.

The submissions filed this week come as a panel of judges considers a request by the court's chief prosecutor for warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant and the recently promoted leaders of Hamas.

The slew of written submissions is likely to delay a decision by a panel of judges.

Most of the legal arguments focus largely on the issue of whether the court’s power to issue warrants for Israeli leaders is overruled by a provision of the 1993 Oslo Accords peace deal.

Among more than 50 filings, the opinions are divided over whether, under the terms of the deal, Palestinians can delegate the power to issue arrest warrants to the court.