Attacks and fighting in the Gaza war continue as efforts to reach a new agreement between Israel and Hamas continue. The Israeli army said yesterday that fighter jets and artillery had “attacked armed terrorists, terrorist infrastructure and tunnel entrances” in the central section of the Gaza Strip the previous day. There had previously been several attacks on Israeli soldiers.
According to a media report, the leader of Hamas in the embattled Gaza Strip, Yahya al-Sinwar, is skeptical regarding the latest offer to negotiate a hostage deal. It is not an offer from the Egyptian mediators, but an Israeli one “in American guise” that contains a number of pitfalls, a source close to the Hamas leader told the Israeli television channel Channel 12 on Wednesday evening.
The current draft does not contain any guarantee that the war will be ended, it was said. As part of mediation efforts in Cairo, Hamas was presented with a proposal for a ceasefire in return for the release of hostages. An answer is still pending. The Islamist organization has so far insisted on an end to the war, which Israel rejects.
Statements by Hamas leaders in exile should not be viewed as the organization’s official positions, Sinwar’s confidant told Channel 12. The Gaza leader now only relies on two close followers for his decisions, who, on his orders, protected the Gaza Strip from the terrorist attack Hamas left Israel on October 7 last year. According to the Times of Israel, there have been recent statements by exiled Hamas leaders in favor of a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, 34,596 people have been killed and more than 77,800 others injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Gaza war. The numbers, which do not distinguish between fighters and civilians, cannot be independently verified.
