Situation at a glance: Heavy fighting again in northern Gaza

A resurgence of heavy fighting between Israel’s army and the Islamist Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip is overshadowing the revived negotiations on the release of hostages and a ceasefire. Israel is again taking action against Hamas fighters on the ground and from the air in the devastated city of Gaza. In recent weeks, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to areas they had previously invaded and from which they had withdrawn.

This shows how the fight against Hamas could become a “protracted war of attrition,” writes the Wall Street Journal. Israel’s renewed action in the city of Gaza could lead to the failure of the indirect negotiations on a hostage agreement that have resumed in Cairo, Hamas said. Its foreign chief Ismail Haniya warned the Qatari and Egyptian mediators accordingly, it said. The USA, which is also acting as a mediator in the war, nevertheless sees chances for an agreement.

There are still points on which Israel and Hamas are far apart, said John Kirby, communications director of the National Security Council in the White House. “But we wouldn’t have sent a team there if we didn’t believe we had a chance here,” he said, referring to the talks in Cairo. On Wednesday, CIA Director Bill Burns will travel on to Doha to meet again with his negotiating partners from Qatar, Egypt and Israel, reported the US news portal “Axios”.

Hamas: Netanyahu is hindering the negotiation process

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously demanded the right for Israel to continue fighting against Hamas as a non-negotiable condition for an agreement. “Any agreement will allow Israel to resume fighting until all war aims are achieved,” says a list of conditions published by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office. Netanyahu is “putting additional obstacles in the way of negotiations,” says a statement from Hamas.

There are public statements on both sides “that do not necessarily fully reflect the discussions we are having with them or their interlocutors in private,” said Kirby, communications director of the National Security Council in the White House. A step-by-step plan is on the table. The mediators are currently trying to formulate a plan to bridge the gap on still contentious points. Netanyahu’s list of conditions was met with criticism in mediation circles, according to media reports.

Air strikes continue

Meanwhile, Israel’s air force also reportedly attacked several terrorists holed up in a school building in the central Gaza Strip. According to Israel’s military, the group of Hamas and Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters in the Nuseirat area were fired upon with precision ammunition on Monday evening to avoid civilian casualties. No further details were given. The information could not be independently verified.

The Israeli army once again pointed out that the two terrorist organizations were “systematically violating international law by using civilian facilities and the population as human shields for terrorist attacks against the State of Israel,” it said. In Nuseirat, the army recently reportedly spotted Hamas fighters in the area of ​​a former school belonging to the UN refugee agency UNRWA and attacked them from the air. According to Hamas, 16 people were killed.

The army explained that this object also served as a hiding place and operational base for terrorists to attack the Israeli military. And steps had also been taken beforehand to minimize the risk to civilians during the attack. None of the information – neither from the Israeli army nor from Hamas – could be independently verified. The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre with more than 1,200 deaths that terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in Israel on October 7, 2023.

Meanwhile, Israel’s army reached the headquarters of the UN refugee agency UNRWA in the city of Gaza. The armed forces had launched anti-terror operations in the area, which is not in operation because of the war, it was said. Civilians had previously been asked to leave the area. Army radio reported fighting with Hamas gunmen. According to Palestinian hospital reports, at least 15 people were killed. The number of victims could rise because rescue workers cannot reach many residential areas because of the fighting. The information could not be independently verified.

Heavy fighting in Gaza City again

Israeli troops entered the Gaza City area in the first month of the war. According to a recent analysis of satellite data by experts from the City University of New York and Oregon State University, around 75 percent of the buildings in the area have been damaged or destroyed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The city has been one of the worst affected by the massive devastation caused by the war. Hamas is now trying to regroup there and elsewhere.

Israel’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi complained weeks ago that, due to a lack of a political strategy, it was necessary to keep fighting in places that the army had actually previously taken over, warning of a “Sisyphean task” according to media reports. Critics accuse Netanyahu of allowing the sealed-off coastal area to sink into chaos due to a lack of a precise plan for stabilizing and administering Gaza. Israel’s troops are in danger of being drawn into an endless guerrilla war by Hamas.

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu recently announced that the last major Hamas fighting units in the south of the Gaza Strip would soon be destroyed. This could at least bring an end to the large-scale ground offensive in the coastal strip. But that would not necessarily mean an end to the military operation. Netanyahu and senior military officials have already announced several times that Israeli troops would remain at strategic locations in the Gaza Strip even after the phase of intensive fighting.