Deadly strikes pound Gaza as Israel PM vows to ramp up pressure

Israel kept up its air strikes on Gaza Wednesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ramp up the pressure on Hamas as hopes fade for a US-announced ceasefire plan.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of deliberately undermining negotiations for a truce and hostage release deal because it did not want to end the war.

The Israeli military said it had carried out 25 strikes in 24 hours, targeting “military structures, terrorist infrastructure, terrorist cells and rigged structures”.

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Netanyahu, who has repeatedly vowed to eradicate Hamas, insisted Tuesday that despite mounting pressure, there would be no let-up in Israel’s campaign against the militants.

“This is exactly the time to increase the pressure even more, to bring home all the hostages -– the living and the dead –- and to achieve all the war objectives,” he said.

He rammed home the point in a speech to parliament, saying, “We have got them by the throat; we are on the road to absolute victory”.

Netanyahu recalled that his decision to send Israeli ground troops into Rafah in May had also drawn international criticism, including from top ally the United States.

“In the Middle East, it’s the strong and determined who are valued, not the weak and fragile,” he said.

The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said 52 people, most of them women and children, had been killed in Israeli strikes over the previous 24 hours.

The UN humanitarian office OCHA said multiple strikes across Gaza on Tuesday killed and wounded dozens.

The territory’s civil defence agency said 30 people had been killed in three strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, one on a UN-run school, another on a house and a third on a mosque.

– Talks deadlock –

In southern Gaza, two people were killed in Israeli bombardment of the Shakush area, northwest of Rafah, a medical source at Nasser Hospital said.

At least 90 percent of Gazans have been forced from their homes, many of them seeking refuge in UN-run schools. Seven of them have been hit by Israeli strikes since July 6.

Nearly 70 percent of UN-run schools across Gaza have been hit during more than nine months of fighting, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.

“Why do they target us when we are innocent people?” asked Umm Mohammed al-Hasanat, sheltering with her family at a UN-run school in Nuseirat, which was among those hit.

“We do not carry weapons but are just sitting and trying to find safety for ourselves and our children.”

Washington has been pushing for a truce deal between Israel and Hamas since President Joe Biden released details of what he said was an Israeli ceasefire roadmap on May 31.

But despite the efforts of Egyptian and Qatari mediators, indirect negotiations between the foes have made no headway.

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In a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan late Tuesday, the Hamas leader blamed Israel for the deadlock.

“We dealt positively with the proposals put to us by the mediators but the occupation is avoiding the required outcome and does not want to reach an agreement under which it ends its war,” Haniyeh said.

His comments came after a senior Hamas official said Sunday that the group was withdrawing from the current talks following Israel’s deadly strikes but was ready to return if its attitude changes.

– Hostage families demand deal –

The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,794 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.

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Critics in Israel, including tens of thousands of demonstrators who have taken to the streets to demand a deal to bring home the hostages, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

The families of five Israeli women soldiers among the hostages said Tuesday they were “begging” the prime minister to “make the deal happen”.

“We are waiting for a face-to-face meeting with you (Netanyahu) to ensure that the negotiations are moving towards a signed deal,” said Ayelet Levy, whose daughter was abducted on October 7.

© Agence France-Presse